Gartner: 1.6 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold in Q1 2011

By Tom Warren, on 19th May 11 10:23 am with 27 Comments

Research analysts Gartner revealed on Thursday that Microsoft has shipped 1.6 million Windows Phone 7 devices in Q1 2011.

The figure is based on device sales into consumers pockets rather than device shipments to operators.”Windows Phone saw only modest sales that reached 1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011,” said Gartner. “Devices launched at the end of 2010 failed to grow in consumer preference and CSPs continued to focus on Android,” it added. Despite the strong focus in the market on Android, Gartner predicts that Nokia will help accelerate Windows Phone’s momentum in the long term. Microsoft revealed in January that it had shipped 2 million Windows Phone 7 devices to mobile operators since launch.

Gartner has previously predicted that worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57% increase from 2010. Android is expected to further hold its lead and account for 49% market share by 2012. Microsoft’s Windows Phone is expected to increase to 10.8% by 2012, up from 4.2% in 2010. Gartner has also previously predicted that Microsoft will cement a strong second place market share by 2015. The research analysts believe Microsoft’s Windows Phone will account for 19.5% market share by 2015, above Apple’s 17.2%. Windows Phone will also account for 215 million worldwide shipments by 2015.

Microsoft’s key strength for the future of Windows Phone is rooted in its Nokia partnership. Originally announced in February, the pact will see Nokia manufacturing smartphones based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. Microsoft says hundreds of personnel are already engaged in join engineering efforts towards the first Nokia Windows Phone. Nokia plans to bring its first Windows Phone to market by the end of 2011, early 2012.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q11

  • Anonymous

    Windows Mobile outsold Windows Phone 7 because WM is available worldwide.

    • Anonymous

      Aha, that actually makes a lot of sense. Thank you. 

    • Vhrc99

      Ipod outsold zune for the same reason, there is no comparation between worldwide sales to only US sales.

  • Anonymous

    Let’s just hope that Nokia will announce phones on  Wednesday.

    • Wtf808

      sorry, whats wednesday? 

    • Anonymous

      Isn’t that when the day of the WP7 event? Or was it Tuesday? 

  • Anonymous

    I don’t think the numbers are bad, especially for a totally new OS.

    (Actually, I think this number is bigger than what Android has sold in the same period  since launch, even with less competition. Am I right?)

    It just needs time to get recognized in this busy market.

    Anyway, slower sales doesn’t mean much at the beginning, as long as you have happy customers that love the phone and recommend it.

    We just need wider and better support as fast as possible, and the phone will catch up sooner or later.

    I mean: More language support, more Marketplace support, more Zune support, more Xbox Live support, more Bing support.

    You can’t sell globally without these things.

    For me, that’s the only thing that matters.

    Features aren’t everything ..

    But when you sell a feature that doesn’t work .. that’s bad!

    WP is a great phone, there’s no way that it will not sell eventually if the whole experience was delivered.

    And when you factor “Nokia” in, you don’t see anything but success.

    So, they need to stop worrying about the numbers until the end of 2012 :-)

  • GP007

    I think 1.6m, if correct, is a nice first step for a brand new OS that no one really knows about.    It’s been clear that the real push for the platform is going to happen with Mango and all the new features on the way.    

    • JGrayTec

      “Every time a user downloads a native app to their smartphone or puts their data into a platform’s cloud service, they are committing to a particular ecosystem and reducing the chances of switching to a new platform. This is a clear advantage for the current stronger ecosystem owners Apple and Google,”Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner, wrote in a report”  

      Accepting low expectations at this point for it being a new OS means it’s lack of sales will likely continue a negative multiplier effect on future success.  Slow out of the gate is not what we wanted.   

    • bk212

       I don’t think the average user is tied to any ecosystem. They just want to know, does phone work well with Facebook, email, texting and twitter? Can I put my mp3′s on it? Are there any useful apps? 
      I think WP7 is easier to use than other smartphones which is an important advantage for average users.

    • CEOTECHblog

      If you buy bunch of Android app or a itune songs for you Iphone you are more compiled to stay with that ecosystem in the future, It becomes more expensive to change to a new OS because of these legacy cost.  Not to understand this market reality is foolish.  

    • bk212

      What you don’t understand is that 70% of U.S. mobile users do not own a smartphone. Most songs sold today are mp3 format which are not locked or copy protected. The most popular apps are free or 99 cents, so most normal users aren’t a slave to their app collection. 

    • GaryT

      App developers understand ecosystem loyalty driving future purchases even if the less educated like bk212 does not.   This is one reason those who are interested in developing for WP7 dropped substantially compared to last quarter. Microsoft fell seven points, with only 29% of developers saying they are ‘very interested’ in the Windows Phone 7 down from 36% last quarter.   

    • Tom

      iPhone has lock-in.

      Android doesn’t.  Many apps developers have stated that you can’t make money selling apps on Android.

    • JGrayTec

      “Every time a user downloads a native app to their smartphone or puts their data into a platform’s cloud service, they are committing to a particular ecosystem and reducing the chances of switching to a new platform. This is a clear advantage for the current stronger ecosystem owners Apple and Google,”Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner, wrote in a report”  

      Accepting low expectations at this point for it being a new OS means it’s lack of sales will likely continue a negative multiplier effect on future success.  Slow out of the gate is not what we wanted.   

  • zzz

    1.6M is just a tad higher than I thought based on the Facebook data.  Not too bad at all.  Keeping chugging along and once the install base reaches 8-10M, I think we will see significant network effect (word of mouth marketing, more apps, etc) and the platform will finally take off.  The Mango will help speed up that process later this year.

  • Anonymous

    Sprint only started featuring the Win7 phone on their website about two weeks ago.  It seems like many of the carriers are still taking orders.  I think once all the major carriers have the Win7 phone in store, sale will pick up.

  • REDroomApps

     Not good not good at all, no wonder my hard work on WP7 apps is not paying off, time to shut down this effort and focus on OSI and Android.  

    • bk212

       Good luck getting noticed among the 120,000 Apple/Google apps. 

    • REDroom

      Free apps are easy to get notice and with ad revenue it is simple about quantity and the fact is WP7 can not supply any quantity at this dismal sales numbers.   And with these OS I do will no longer have to play second to MS pushing Xbox live games over us independent developers 

  • REDroomApps

     Not good not good at all, no wonder my hard work on WP7 apps is not paying off, time to shut down this effort and focus on OSI and Android.  

  • Kanelp

    I don’t see this as doom and gloom.  This is only Q1 data, so it is 1.6 million phones on top of what was sold last year.  So I’m guessing we are around the 3 million mark for total units out there.  Windows Mobile is still winding down, Windows Phone is still getting it legs.  Sprint has only had it a month, Verizon gets it in another week.  I think when Nokia and the Mango release come out things will change.

    • Guest

       Last years sales have been estimated at less the 700,000 while Mango will be a nice update it will only put WP7 in line with other current mobile OS offers making it a better, be it still, a me too product.  

    • bk212

      Read reviews by actual users on AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile website. Owners love the easy to use interface. It’s not a “me too” product at all. Word of mouth will decide whether this product has long term growth or not.

    • Gravy

      Sadly most of those reviews comes straight out of MS marketing department.  When it comes to the real indicator of how well a product is liked, SALES NUMBERS report consumer satisfaction more accurately then phony online reviews.   As we are seeing WP7 is being rejected for not being good enough to compete with iOS or Android.   

  • Soggy

    Wow Wp7 is now edging out misc others! There’s an achievement for you after spending 100mill on marketing alone.

    • BobWhite

      Actually MS spend half a billion introducing WP7…. major fail :(