Microsoft's revenue from Windows Phone could total less than $613 million, according to a new report.
Microsoft's
possible revenue from Windows Phone: less than $613 million.
That number
comes courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which did a little
digging into Microsoft's annual U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report.
It comes from subtracting Xbox 360-related revenue-a cool $8.1 billion-from
that of its overall Entertainment and Devices Division, leaving $613 million
split between Windows Phone and a variety of much smaller projects such as
Zune, Surface and the thoroughly out-to-pasture Windows Mobile platform.
Microsoft
rolled out Windows Phone in late 2010, meaning that any revenue numbers aren't
reflective of a full year of sales. Nonetheless, sales totaling under $613
million would be anemic compared to those of Apple's iPhone over a similar
period, or even the combined family of Google Android devices.
Microsoft
habitually refuses to release any hard sales data related to Windows Phone.
Nonetheless, studies from various research firms have suggested Microsoft holds
a single-digit share of the U.S. smartphone market. Research firm comScore, for
instance, placed Microsoft at 5.8 percent by the end of May, trailing Android
at 38.1 percent, Apple at 26.6 percent and Research In Motion's BlackBerry
franchise at 24.7 percent.
Microsoft
occupied some 9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in June, according to
data from Nielsen. That total, which included the company's Windows Mobile
platform, trailed Google Android with 39 percent, Apple's iPhone with 28
percent and RIM with 20 percent.
During a July
11 keynote speech at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference, CEO Steve
Ballmer described the newish platform's market share as "very small," but
insisted that other metrics (such as consumer satisfaction) boded well for
Windows Phone overall.
"Nine out of
10 people who bought Windows Phone would absolutely recommend it to a friend,"
he said, reiterating a talking point voiced by many a Microsoft executive over
the past few months. "People in the phone business seem to believe in us."
Mango reached
its release-to-manufacturing milestone July 26. "Earlier this morning, the
Windows Phone development team officially signed off on the release-to-manufacturing
(RTM) build of -Mango'-the latest version of the Windows Phone operating
system," Microsoft executive Terry Myerson wrote in a posting on The Windows Blog. "Here on the Windows Phone
team, we now turn to preparing for the update process."
A day after
that RTM milestone, one of the company's hardware partners revealed its first
smartphone running the software. Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications' IS12T
will offer a 3.7-inch screen paired to a 13.2-megapixel camera. It will arrive
on Japanese store shelves by September or later, according to an IDG
video uploaded to YouTube and posted on multiple news Websites,
including PC World. The phone supports CDMA-based (Code
Division Multiple Access-based) networks.
Samsung, HTC,
LG Electronics and Nokia have all committed to building new Windows Phone
devices preloaded with Mango, along with Acer and ZTE.
Follow Nicholas Kolakowski on Twitter
Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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