As noted by MobileTechWorld earlier this week, Microsoft is touting International Data Corp. (IDC) numbers that indicate 30 million Windows Phone 7 units being marketed through the finish of 2011.That;s a pretty ambitious objective (to say the least). The first generation of Windows Telephone 7 handsets won;t ship till the finish of calendar 2010. And in the most current quarter, Windows Mobile was down to 6.eight % with the globally cellular working method market,
Office 2010 Code, when it comes to share. (Symbian nonetheless rules the roost with 44 percent; Blackberry OS has 19 percent plus the iPhone OS,
Office 2010 License, 15 percent.)Update: AllThingsDigital is reporting that IDC says their numbers were characterized incorrectly by Microsoft. IDC predicts there will be 32 million Windows Phones (each WP7 and Windows Cellular six.x models) offered by 2011. But who in his/her correct mind is nevertheless going to buy a WM six.x telephone (which is not backward-compatible with WP7) as of this drop? Hair splitting aside, I feel IDC is nevertheless saying that Microsoft will probably promote close to 30 million WP7 devices as of 2011.I used to be interested to hear from MobileTechWorld;s Makram Daou additional particulars on where Microsoft is expecting all this development to occur. He was at the Paris ReMIX conference this week exactly where Microsoft talked up the latest Windows Phone seven projections.Daou said the Softies are not always counting on stealing share from Nokia, RIM, Apple or any with the Android handset vendors. Nor are they relying exclusively about the installed Windows Cellular telephone base to upgrade to Windows Phone 7. Rather, Microsoft officials are claiming the bulk of the projected thirty million Windows Phone 7 units to be existing “feature phone” users who is going to be ready to upgrade to smartphones.It;s also worth noting that Microsoft is unlikely to make very much money off licensing fees for the Windows Telephone OS. Instead, Microsoft officials see Windows Telephone 7 products as being the conduit for much bigger sales of its still-unannounced cloud services for these phones (i.e.,
Office Pro Plus 2010 Key, things like Xbox Live gaming, Zune music/video services,
Buy Windows 7, the successor to Microsoft My Phone, etc.) — at the same time as mobile advertising revenues. (A related aside: There;s talk Microsoft may be poised to cut the price of its ZunePass music subscription service from $15 a month to closer to $10.)Inside the finish, a great deal of Windows Phone 7;s uptake will depend on the carriers offering Windows Phone seven devices. If the available data/service plans prohibitively expensive (a la Verizon with Kin),
Office Standard 2007, the quality of the Windows Phone 7 gadgets and apps will probably be moot.That caveat aside, do you feel Microsoft (and IDC) are smoking something in regards to their Windows Phone seven predictions? Or could you see Windows Phone 7 becoming good/different enough to attract brand-new low-end phone users.