According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung’s Windows Phone 7 (WP7) handsets are “gaining traction.”
The statement from the research company came ina reporton the top five global smartphone manufacturers. Samsung, maker of several WP7 phones including the popular Focus, has been a provider of Windows Phone 7 handsets since the mobile line launched in late 2010.
What is important about the statement from IDC is that it somewhat quells recent news that Windows Phone 7 sales have been low, perhaps even disastrously so. We covered the most recent round of sales-based controversyhere.
Other phone manufacturers have in the past voiced concern over Windows Phone 7 sales figures, including the giant LG,who calledthe first round of WP7 sales at launch “[not] what everyone expected.”
Perhaps the only parlor game more popular than guessing the date of Facebook’s IPO, or Twitter’s yet-unveiled business model, is estimating the total sales figure for Windows Phone 7 handsets. Millions have been sold to carriers, but how many have made it into the hands of consumers?
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App sales, a secondary metric that can be used to measure the health of a mobile line, and thus its handset sales levels, arenot encouraging, at least according to developers willing to speak up on the matter.
The problem is that it is nearly impossible to track well the number of sold handsets with any degree of accuracy without a note from Microsoft. Here at TNWmicrosoft we have taken several stabs at the matter, and have done better than most, but what the market craves arehard figuresthat are incontrovertibly correct; Microsoft needs to speak up.
What the Redmond based company has managed to do is continue to foster developer support, with the WP7 Marketplacechugging along at a steady clip. But it needs to generate sales and downloads for those developers, and that means that more handsets need to be moved. Is it time for another round of price cuts?
Story byAlex Wilhelm
Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at alex@thenextweb(show all)Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex onTwitter,and onFacebook.You can reach Alex via email atalex@thenextweb.com
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