WP7 Is "Very Small", Admits Ballmer

A growing number of analysts may be forecasting that Windows Phone 7 could overtake every mobile platform except Android within a few years - but Microsoft itself is in the business of managing expectations. CEO Steve Ballmer admitted to the firm's Worldwide Partner Conference that the new operating system has had limited impact so far. "In a year, we've gone from very small to... very small," he said in his keynote address.

Focal Points:

• Most market reports indicate that WP7 has actually shrunk Windows' share of the mobile market in its first months, with users and carriers distracted by the charms of Android. So far, the hugely improved OS has not won new devices or OEMs to the Windows base, but of course, that will all change when Nokia launches its first products.
• Ballmer is pinning his hopes on the Nokia alliance, and he promised "a lot of progress in the market going forward", as well as Nokia WP7 smartphones in time for the holiday season. The Finnish giant has been cautious about the scale of its 2011 launch, initially indicating that there would be only one smartphone unveiled this year, and that users would have to wait until 2012 for the full-blown new user experience that is promised. 


• However, insiders increasingly say that the pre-Christmas launch will be higher profile than originally intended, showing off a brand new UI. Even CEO Stephen Elop has hinted that the R&D timescales for the first WP7 devices has been accelerated, with the vendor urgently needing to close the gap product gap between its legacy Symbian offerings and its new WP7 range. 


• Nokia will be allowed to customize the hardware specs and user interface for WP7 far more extensively than other licensees. Ballmer confirmed that the first devices from the vendor would run the Mango upgrade to WP7. He said: "You know, a year ago we didn't have a phone in the market. Now we're charging forward with Nokia. We have the second generation of our phones coming out this Christmas, and people are starting to do things they never imagined before."
• There is risk for Microsoft as well as Nokia in the two firms' friendship. One of the interesting knock-on effects may be a weakening of interest from other OEMs - some, like HTC, with a stronger recent track record in launching high impact handsets. Samsung, for instance, is said to have demoted WP7 in its development priority list after the Nokia announcement.

Editor’s Note: It seems that at least in the mobile world, Microsoft is not trying to hype WP7. It makes one wonder if this is because of their being unready to support, their being unsure of the product being able to stand up to competition or as the author puts it, trying to be realistic.