
Microsoft confirms 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 handsets sold since launch - pierrefar
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2010/12/21/microsoft-confirms-1-5-million-windows-phone-7-handsets-sold-since-launch/
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pilif
so now the days of being able to use HTML5 targeting mostly Webkit to build
amazing Mobile Web Apps are over.

Back are the days of ugly IE hacks, frustrating testing and rewriting stuff so
it works in IE6.

A heartfelt "thank you" to Micrsoft for screwing over countless web developers
who finally felt that they were able to really express themselves at least in
the mobile world.

Also, dear customers, please understand that from now on any mobile work you
are giving us will be much more expensive because Microsoft decided to release
a phone OS in 2010 with a browser engine basically from 2001 (I hear it's not
quite IE7).

And, dear end users, please understand that because of Microsoft, we won't be
able to supply you with all the amazing new features in your mobile apps as
quickly any more because, now, we developers will have to do additional work
to make sure that whatever we are creating works in that new OS Microsoft
released that runs a browser from 2001.

Myself? I'm off to hide in a dark corner and cry.

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Tichy
Couldn't you bundle webkit with your app?

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abdulla
Isn't it a .Net only platform? No native code?

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tomh-
At this point, for most developers the choice is Silverlight (.net/c#) and XNA
(for games). I think only a limited amount of publishers are able to publish
native c/c++ applications.

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jlgosse
What's with all the hate for WP7? I've used a handful of devices now and they
were a real treat to play with. I think it's amazing how they have re-imagined
the way people should use their phones. They've been quite innovative with the
OS, and even their packaged apps are kind of awesome too.

For instance, the mail and contacts apps are probably better than those on
competing platforms.

Bing maps was arguably the nicest mapping app on the market until Google just
released Maps 5.0 for Android.

On top of all of that, it's a treat to develop Windows Phone 7 apps, and I'm
excited to see what people create.

All in all, it saddens me that you guys seem to hate on WP7 for basically no
reason whatsoever, and I personally think that it's amazing what Microsoft has
done to revive their mobile operating system.

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mda
They abused whole IT ecosystem with Windows for years. That is the main reason
for the general distaste against Microsoft.

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fname
Link to the actual "interview":
[http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2010/dec10/12-21...](http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2010/dec10/12-21AchimBergQA.mspx)

 _Another is phone manufacturer sales – phones being bought and stocked by
mobile operators and retailers on their way to customers. We are pleased that
phone manufacturers sold over 1.5 million phones in the first six weeks, which
helps build customer momentum and retail presence._

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ajays
I've heard that all Microsoft employees are being given a free WP7 phone.
Given that they have ~100K employees, that's a sizable number.

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techsupporter
Microsoft employees and interns--that is, blue badges--are being offered
reimbursement on the purchase of a Windows Phone 7 device through mid-June (in
the US; non-US sites are handling things differently). Not every US employee
has taken advantage of the offer due to no availability from Sprint and
Verizon or just because they didn't want to yet.

~~~
Locke1689
Specifically 2010 Summer-Fall interns. Even more specifically, it requires a
data plan. The FTEs have a different deal—I don't remember how it works.

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javery
This is phone manufacturers selling 1.5 million phones - does that mean actual
activations or does that mean it includes inventory sitting in stores. It
sounds like the latter to me.

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Skroob
This is phones sold to distribution, not phones sold to consumers.

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ultrasaurus
How many stores sell smart phones?

I'd ballpark it at 1 per 5000 people (that's what it seems like in my city) -
so that's 60 000 in North America (or 25 phones a store). It seems like a lot
of that could be stock (or all of it, 25/store doesn't seem like a lot of
stock).

[refinement of numbers much appreciated]

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luminarious
Personally, I find the UI very, very appealing. But will not purchase a WP7
phone until a proper browser becomes available, even Opera Mini will suffice.

On a related note, how come all the mobile JS frameworks neglect Opera?

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vondur
I wonder if they are actually sold and activated? Microsoft has a history of
inflating sales numbers. I imagine this may mean that they shipped 1.5 million
to the carriers, but most have not been activated. I have seen them on sale at
a two for one, which leaves me to believe that they are not selling well and
carriers are trying to dump them cheaply.

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ramanujam
Not to forget that ~90k Microsoft employees got the WP7 for free which is a
massive 6% of the active user base!

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Locke1689
Nope, only blue badges.

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wriq
To be honest those numbers don't seem all that great considering Microsoft is
running a buy one get one free deal with both AT&T and T-Mobile. It'll be
interesting to see how the activation rate changes once those deals expire.

AT&T: [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/cmpn/buy-one-
get...](http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/cmpn/buy-one-get-one.aspx)

T-Mobile: [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-
us/cmpn/t-mobile.as...](http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-
us/cmpn/t-mobile.aspx?cmpid=14304302)

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mgutz
The _real_ question is do any of your friends use Win7 phones? Not one of my
friends do and many of them use Win7 on the desktop. The number activated is
probably a lot lower. 1.5 mil is not that large of a mobile/internet number.

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dualboot
I know all of the MS Fulltimers had the option of getting a free one for
Christmas this month.. Wonder how that bumps up the numbers :)

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mojara
Well they say the next version of the windows phone will include some ability
to write some html 5

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tvon
This is not sales to consumers, this is sales to distribution channels.

