Ina Fried

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Microsoft “Happy” With Windows Phone 7 Sales

Windows Phone 7 has been on the market for a month now, but Microsoft has steadfastly refused to give out any concrete sales numbers.


Onstage at D: Dive Into Mobile on Tuesday, Microsoft Vice President Joe Belfiore told Walt Mossberg that it was just too soon to give the numbers. (Mind you, Microsoft hasn’t had a similar problem touting figures for its equally new Kinect product.) In a backstage interview, Belfiore again declined to give specifics, but did say that the company is pleased with the phone sales figures, even if it won’t quantify them.

“We’re very happy with the rate of sales given the fact we’ve taken such a significant reset from Windows Mobile to a brand-new Windows Phone,” Belfiore told Mobilized after his onstage appearance. “We need people to get reacquainted with what we’re offering.”

In the video portion of the backstage interview, embedded below, I tried to pin Belfiore down a little further, asking whether Steve Ballmer smiles or winces when he sees the numbers.

“I think we’re all feeling pretty good,” he replied.

Belfiore also confirmed that a software update early next year (the same one that will bring copy and paste) will pave the way for Sprint and Verizon to also start selling the phone. Microsoft had to make a bunch of trade-offs in order to get the product out this year–one of which was delaying support for CDMA networks. As a result, the phone is only available in the U.S. on AT&T and T-Mobile.

“Having Windows Phone on Verizon and Sprint will be a very important thing,” Belfiore said. “There are a large number of users on those networks that like the service they are getting from their carriers.”

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus