Microsoft may have some trouble selling its new Windows Phone 7 smartphones,
if a new British report is any indication.
In a report quickly disseminated across the Web by blogs such as Electronista,
U.K. retailer MobilesPlease reported
that Windows Phone 7 devices were being outsold by their Google Android and
Symbian counterparts. While lone sales reports are questionable indicators of
broader trends, this bit of news from the U.K.
dovetails with earlier rumors that first-day Windows Phone 7 sales in the United
States were somewhat lackluster.
"Windows Phone 7 has got off to a sluggish start as far as our
customers are concerned," reads a Nov. 29 posting on MobilesPlease's
corporate blog, "accounting for just 3 [percent] of smartphone sales
and a little under 2 [percent] of overall sales through MobilesPlease.co.uk and
our network of partner sites that share our data feed."
Symbian 3 devices apparently outsold their Windows Phone 7 competition by a
factor of 3-to-1. "I wanted to make sure that our figures weren't
anomalous, so I went to a few local high street mobile phone retailers,"
the posting continues, "and although they couldn't give me numbers the
story was the same, Windows Phone 7 Handsets are not selling."
The posting acknowledges MobilesPlease's findings aren't necessarily "indicative
of all retailers' position on Windows Phone 7."
Global retail numbers for the smartphones, however, remain ambiguous.
International reports indicated strong interest in Windows Phone 7, with DigiTimes
reporting "better than expected" movement on HTC-built
devices in Europe and Australia.
Stocks of the devices were reportedly low in the U.K.,
where carrier Orange told media
outlets that it had "limited amounts" of the HTC
7 Mozart and Samsung Omnia 7 available to customers.
Within a day of the smartphone platform's Nov. 8 release in the United
States, reports indicated a high level of
interest for devices offered through AT&T and T-Mobile. "We did have
lines in some of our markets across the nation," an AT&T spokesperson reportedly
told the Seattle Times. "There definitely was
anticipation for the phone."
But two days later, TheStreet.com
reported that 40,000 Windows Phone 7 devices had sold during their first 24
hours' release. That number reportedly came from an unnamed "market
research source who tracks phone sales." Microsoft has remained
silent about hard numbers; if verified, however, that 40,000 figure lags behind
first-day numbers for the Apple iPhone 4, one of Windows Phone 7's major
competitors in the consumer smartphone space.
Microsoft hopes Windows Phone 7 will allow it to seize share from not only
the iPhone, but also Google Android. It may be months, though, before a
definitive picture emerges of the smartphones' success or failure in the market.
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