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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Microsoft ships 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold

By | January 26, 2011, 12:04pm PST

Microsoft says that it has shipped 2 million handsets to carriers, but there’s still no word on how many have been sold to customers.

Greg Sullivan, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 group product manager, announced this figure in an interview with Bloomberg News. This figure represents the number of handsets shipped to carriers and NOT the number of handsets sold to consumers. This figure still remains a mystery.

We do get one metric though - Sullivan said that customer satisfaction was at 93% and brand awareness was at 66%, up 22% since the platform was released.

We previously got a heads-up when the company had shipped 1.5 million handsets to carriers.

Sullivan also announced that there are 6,500 applications for the Windows Phone platform and 24,000 developers signed up on board.

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Topics

Microsoft Windows Phone 7, Handset, Microsoft Windows Phone, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Corp., Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
non-biased 4th Feb 2011
@Rama.NET How they get paid is irrelevant to what he said. His very obvious point is that Google is able to announce true sales figures so why doesn't MS. It's not a matter of they can't announce true sales figures, it's that they won't for whatever reason. The fact that they won't when everyone knows they could is what is driving all the speculation. IMO with all the speculation about the numbers if they were even moderately good then MS would announce them.
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It sucks!
Cylon Centurion 26th Jan 2011
It's dead, it's ugly, it's Microsoft's, it's boring, it's..... uh, what else do all the haters say about it? Oh, it'll be in the bargain bin by [Insert Date Here], um.... I think that's about it.

happy
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We could say all of those things, but, really we just want to know how many
DonnieBoy 26th Jan 2011
were SOLD.
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Why?
rapson 26th Jan 2011
@DonnieBoy

Why does it matter to you how many have been sold?
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rapson, if Microsoft sold half a million more licenses
Mister Spock 26th Jan 2011
beyond the initial 1.5 million, then DonnieBoy is worried that people actually like the operating System.

Would that not equate to less Android handsets sold?
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Carl: Mostly...
John L. Ries 1st Feb 2011
@rapson
...so we can determine whether this is news or propaganda.

Showing only the number of units shipped to ISPs does make it rather easy for MS to make WP7 look more popular than it actually is.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
The Danger is Microsoft 2nd Feb 2011
@rapson - Boy, have YOU been eating the Microsoft turds! Sales to the consumer mean EVERYTHING! MS could ship 1 billion units to outlets. Unless they sell that number of shipments means NOTHING!

Dag nab it, Carl, I though you were smarter than that!
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Pete "athynz" Athens 26th Jan 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005 I do notice that there are fewer comparisons to the KIN now... of course it's outlasted the KIN...

I played with the 3 models AT&T had for about an hour before deciding to stick with iOS and get an iPhone 4 a few months ago... but if I was upgrading to a smartphone from a feature phone I think I would have gone with a WP7 despite my not liking the Metro UI as much as I do iOS. I liked the HTC Surround the best out of the three.

Having said that I am curious to see how many have sold but IMHO it's up to AT&T being the seller of the devices to provide the sales info not Microsoft.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
The Danger is Microsoft 2nd Feb 2011
@athynz - Not really. AT&T could care less about specific models (except, perhaps, for stocking levels). Microsoft KNOWS how many are sold, since that's when they realize the profit and it gets recorded as a 'sale' (per GAAP requirements).

It's up to MS...and they still keep dodging the issue. Hmmm...wonder why???
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
tonymcs@... 26th Jan 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005

You've missed the most important point.

Why hasn't anyone told Donnie how many phones were sold?

Oh and it's still the best current mobile phone and as long as I have one and Microsoft supports it, I really don't care how many are sold.

Notice that all the trolls can do is try and put out FUD on sales and complain about the tiles - obviously they enjoy static icons to siloed apps or think they're phones should be challenging rather than easy to use.

Donnie and the rest are desperate. They can see it is the best phone and it's really causing them a lot of cognitive dissonance.

And that's a half million increase. If Donnie's wet dream of WP7 licences lieing idle is true, how could they sell more?

It's getting a bit depressing and sad under the bridge wink
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Rick_K Updated - 26th Jan 2011
@tonymcs@ So why do you like to sit under the bridge? I honestly do not understand you trolls.

The reason people want to know how many are actually activated is simple. This is supposed to be the best phone you can buy. But as it turns out it is starting to look like another Microsoft kin. All hype, and no substance. I have yet to see one in the wild, but I do see plenty of Android phone and iOS phones, in the wild. Whit the massive sales number Microsoft is throwing out, youd expect to see just about everyone using one. My honest guess is that only 10% to 15% are in actual use the rest are sitting in a stockroom, or warehouse somewhere (next to those kin phones). wink
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That'd be quite impossible...
Wolfie2K3 27th Jan 2011
@Rick_K
Unless AT&T or T-Mobile are sharing warehouse space with Verizon, there's little chance that WP7 phones would languish in the same warehouse as a Kin. Remember - Sprint and Verizon haven't gotten any WP7 love yet.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Rick_K 28th Jan 2011
@Wolfie2K3
I was kidding. The point was it might end up like the last failed Microsoft phone product.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
The Danger is Microsoft 2nd Feb 2011
@tonymcs@... Until MS reports how many they recognize revenue for (i.e. how many consumers purchased) it's a mute point. Here's hoping you picked a winner!!
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
non-biased 3rd Feb 2011
@tonymcs@... So it's the best mobile phone OS currently available in your opinion? Great, I am glad you got what you wanted but that doesn't make it the best for everyone. As far as anybody putting out FUD, seems to me that is what MS is doing by talking about units shipped and being closed lipped on the actual activation numbers. How long did the half million addition units shipped take? Aren't iOS and Android activating 300K-350K a day? Not that I expect them to do that well this early on but you can't through 1/2 million around like it's some incredible number nobody has ever seen when it's less that two days or activations for either of the two top competitors. You know that if this were Apple you would be one of the first for bashing them about not releasing activation numbers, you can't have it both ways.

As far as why is it important to release the activation numbers, because developers need to (and dare I say have a right) know the numbers to determine if the platform is worth their investment to develop for now or wait a bit or not at all.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
rbgaynor 26th Jan 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005 Aren't they already in the bargain bin? Actually weren't they already in the bargain bin before Christmas?
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Tiggster 27th Jan 2011
@rbgaynor Kind of like the Android phones offered free by carriers with a new contract?? Last I checked you couldn't get a free WP7 device with a contract. You actually have to pay a subsidized rate for it. But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of your propaganda. That would take away our entertainment here. LOL
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
SlithyTove 27th Jan 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005

Even if all 2 million were actually sold that is still a pretty disappointing number, but there are a couple points in there that the trolls seem to be missing.

First, that 93% satisfaction rating is a very nice number, right up in iPhone/iPad territory. Even if the phone doesn't have much traction right now, if customers are that happy with it, it has a strong chance of growing by sheer word of mouth. Right now it's kind of like the best kept secret of phones: where not many people have them or have even really heard of them, but the people that do own one, love them.

Second, brand awareness has risen dramatically. Since brand awareness is one of WP7s biggest current challenges imo, that is a good sign.

Third, the 2 million is up 500k from the initial 1.5 million. Meaning at least some of the manufacturers have had enough success to feel the need to build more phones. LG is obviously unhappy, but they had by far the worst phones on the market. No one would choose the LG phone over the Samsung for example except by accident.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
dave95. 28th Jan 2011
@SlithyTove

Reminds me of the Zune in that those few that owned one loved it, even rating it higher than iPods (best kept secrete). Not saying WP7 will end up like the Zune, just pointing out that Just because it received a high user rating does not equal future success.

Marketing/advertising, OEMs hardware offering, feature/firmware updates especially when compared to iOS and Android....these all plays a part in it's success.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
The Danger is Microsoft Updated - 2nd Feb 2011
@SlithyTove - Yes, and as per usual MS will blame the OEM's for the failure to sell WP7 (just like WinCE, .Net, Vista, etc.).

Face it. MOST people don't LIKE MS warez. They only buy them when forced to (like Office, Win 95, 97, 2000, XP, etc.).
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
non-biased Updated - 3rd Feb 2011
@SlithyTove You are absolutely right about the satisfaction rate, that is an impressive number. The issue is that number doesn't mean nearly as much if 200 people have the phone (obvious extreme there) version 2 million people and they are not telling us how many. As far as the additional 500K shipped, that could be due to manufactures having enough success to build more but it could also very well just be more units that were shipping on the initial scheduled order and had absolutely nothing to do with actual consumer sales. The issue is that MS is keeping quiet and that leaves it open to speculation. If they just came out with real numbers rather than being what I consider sneaky by using shipment figures everyone would know and end the speculations.
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I know nothing
Robert Hahn 27th Jan 2011
There is some quantity of licenses at which a hardware OEM gets a big price break. For any serious handset maker, a few hundred thousand units is noise. Therefore the "minimum buy" of Win 7 Phone licenses is probably a 6-figure number. What we're seeing in Microsoft's numbers is the initial purchases of licenses by handset makers who are rolling out a Win 7 Phone device. An individual handset maker may not have even shipped -any- to the carriers yet, let alone to an end user. The main thing to remember is that Microsoft isn't selling licenses one-by-one; they are being sold in large blocks to very large companies who will buy more if Win 7 Phone is a hit, and who won't buy any more if it flops. MSFT may sell a million licenses before that jury comes in. A million is not a big number in the handset market.
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Very suspicious that they will not tell us how many were SOLD or ACTIVATED
DonnieBoy 26th Jan 2011
What are they hiding?
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Likely nothing
Michael Alan Goff 26th Jan 2011
Or maybe they're hiding the fact that they don't sell phones. That might be right...
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Still, how many phones have been SOLD??? Why is nobody talking????
DonnieBoy 26th Jan 2011
And, is it licenses or actual phones that have been shipped. Printing 2 million stickers is not that interesting.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Ron Burgundy 26th Jan 2011
@goff256 They can give the number Golf...they have the number of licenses that have been activated, all they have to do is look in the database and see which ones are active and not, it'll tell them regardless of what phone it is.
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It is to Microsoft
Michael Alan Goff Updated - 26th Jan 2011
That's where their money is.

As for how many handsets were sold, I would think that a smaller fraction of that. Why would Microsoft be hiding these numbers? While selling only 400,000 seems like a decent amount to us, it isn't a huge bragging point for them.

They're used to being dominant. That's when people readily give out sales numbers.

Edit: How did you get my name wrong after the site put the correct version for you, Ron?
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Ron Burgundy 26th Jan 2011
@goff256 Recall they only sold 40,000 at launch...after that number do you really think they are going to be straightforward about how many they have sold? I bet it's less than 500,000...and to quote Loverock, I have yet to see one in the wild.
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One report said 40,000
Michael Alan Goff 26th Jan 2011
In the US market.

Microsoft is referring to worldwide, as are most other people.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Rick_K 26th Jan 2011
@goff256 That make it look even worse. selling 2 million licenses worldwide in a quarter when the competition is activating 12 to 16 million phones in the same quarter, just shows you phone OS is not all that great Remember there are approximately 300,000 Android devices activated daily and 380,000 iOS devices activated daily. So Microsoft?s monthly sales to the OEMs doesn?t even compare to the weekly sales of the competitors products (to the consumers). silly
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Nope, it doesn't compare
Michael Alan Goff Updated - 27th Jan 2011
But this is basically a first release, since they haven't really done mobile in forever. Treat it as such.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
non-biased 3rd Feb 2011
@goff256 Playing semantics doesn't change the fact you know exactly what he was talking about and you also know that if MS wanted to they could very easily provide activation numbers. I find it just as telling that carriers are not releasing figures either.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Pete "athynz" Athens 26th Jan 2011
@DonnieBoy Why does it have to be Microsoft that has to provide this information? Last time I checked it was HTC, Samsung, and LG than manufactured the devices and AT&T that actually sold these devices so should this call for information be directed towards AT&T?
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Because...
Solid Water 26th Jan 2011
@athynz
I think you are right... and LG says that it does not worth to mention the numbers. sad
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Rick_K Updated - 26th Jan 2011
@athynz It might have something to do with contracts. AT&T is not going to come out and say theyve only sold 20,000 MS Zunephones in a quarter, and 8 times the amount of android phone and another 8 times that amount of iPhones each month in the same quarter. You?d see Microsoft suing AT&T faster than a windows xp box gets infected on the internet.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Hallowed are the Ori 27th Jan 2011
Jeez, give it a freaking rest already.

Isn't there some article concerning Google somewhere that you can put on your cheerleader outfit for and grab your pom-poms?
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It is all of the above
itguy08 26th Jan 2011
FUGLY, unintuitive, will be dead by 2013, a sales flop.

Funny how everything MS is talking about is the channel and not how many have been sold to actual end users. That's the judge of the success/failure.

And by all accounts, WP7 = FAIL.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
bnlf 26th Jan 2011
@itguy08 why?
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
ALISON SMOCK 26th Jan 2011
@itguy08 Guess what, Microsoft does not sell phones, only licenses. The sold 2 miilion Windows phone 7 ones by the end of 2010.

I did not see you ask how many Windows 7 PC's were shipped when Microsoft announced they sold 240 million W7 licenses.
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But, why is Microsoft stating that THEY shipped the phones? Or maybe, they
DonnieBoy 26th Jan 2011
just shipped the licenses???? No actual phones sold to anybody yet????
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Rama.NET 26th Jan 2011
@DonnieBoy
They said those phones are made by makers and delivered to carriers for sale. And in fact a good number of those are already in the pockets of users.
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DonnieBoy, had it not occured to you that
Mister Spock 26th Jan 2011
many of those licenses may have been sold to manufactures producing CDMA phones, which have not benn released yet?

How can a carrier sell that which is not in it's posession at the moment?
plain
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Rick_K 26th Jan 2011
@Rama.NET
NO it only says that somewhere between Microsoft and the end user there are 2 million licenses. They could be in transit, in a stockroom, in a warehouse, who knows. I believe that Microsoft knows exactly how many are activated, but since it?s not a number to be proud of, they simply use licenses shipped to the OEM. If 2 million phones were shipped, and no one can find one in a store, it artificially creates the image of an ?in demand item?. People by nature will spend money on an item that is in demand, rather than just clogging up shelf space. So the idea is to make your product look more popular than it is.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
Ron Burgundy 26th Jan 2011
@Rama.NET Get a grip on life shillboy...I've used Microsoft products for years, so your assumption is stupid, just like your lack of common sense when it comes to reporting the numbers...
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
non-biased 3rd Feb 2011
@Rama.NET If you know a good number are already in the pockets or users where did you get your figures from since they are not sharing?
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
non-biased 3rd Feb 2011
@Mister Spock If they are stating phones shipped then regardless of if it CDMA or not how are they not in the possession of the carrier long after they shipped?
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We know it is failing...
Michael Alan Goff 26th Jan 2011
based on no information?

Or do you know something we don't?
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If MS wants to tell us how many phones have been sold / activated, we could
DonnieBoy 26th Jan 2011
clear this all up and stop all the talking. One simple number is all we need.
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Wouldn't that be akin to telling how many...
Michael Alan Goff 26th Jan 2011
Dells, HPs, Acers, and so forth were sold that had Windows 7 on it as opposed to telling how many Windows 7 licenses were sold?
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We could play semantics games all day long. It would be rather simple for
DonnieBoy 26th Jan 2011
MS to clear this all up and tell us what "shipped" means.

Again, we need to know how many people have purchased a WP7 phone of whatever brand. That is very simple and straight forward. No semantic games needed. As a side issue, it would also be interesting to know if MS only shipped licenses, and it does not imply a phone manufactured for every license sold.
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Here's what I think
Michael Alan Goff 26th Jan 2011
I believe that Microsoft has activated 1 phone for every 4 or 5 licenses shipped. That isn't glorious by any stretch, but that's likely how it is. Imagine that things will get better the moment we get more phones that don't suck, but I cannot say.

As for the actual numbers, I'd like to see them too. But I also know that a lack of news is just that... a lack of news.
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RE: Microsoft shifts 2 million Windows Phone 7 handsets, no word on how many sold
non-biased 4th Feb 2011
@Rama.NET How they get paid is irrelevant to what he said. His very obvious point is that Google is able to announce true sales figures so why doesn't MS. It's not a matter of they can't announce true sales figures, it's that they won't for whatever reason. The fact that they won't when everyone knows they could is what is driving all the speculation. IMO with all the speculation about the numbers if they were even moderately good then MS would announce them.

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