Windows Phone 7 Launch Weak by Comparison: Report

New figures suggest that sales of Windows Phone 7 handsets have effectively flat-lined at a statistically insignificant level. It's led one research firm to suggest Microsoft will have to find a completely different way to make money from the mobile market.

There have been several indications that sales of handsets running the new system, launched in Europe in October and North America last month, have been disappointing.

Statistics from the Windows Phone 7 launch include an estimate that just 40,000 people bought a Windows Phone 7 device on its launch day (the respective figure for iPhones is usually in the hundreds of thousands). There's also been a report that the Facebook app for Windows Phone 7 (usually one of the most popular on any smartphone system) has just 120,000 Windows Phone 7 users. Lastly, a British smartphone price comparison company says that just 3 per cent of its users have purchased a Windows Phone 7 handset through its web site.

Windows Phone 7 Market Share Negligible

Now, Chitika, a company that delivers advertising to mobile devices, is noting that for every one ad seen by a Windows Phone 7 user, 110 are seen by Android handset owners and 172 on the iPhone. That would put Microsoft's "market share" at around 0.33 per cent -- a figure that might actually be an overstatement, since Chitika's ads don't reach all handsets. (Source: chitika.com)

The Chitka figures show daily statistics over the past three weeks. A generous reading would say there's a slender rise in Microsoft's position, but nowhere near the rapid increase you'd expect if the phone were being popularly received.

Game Already Over, Researchers Claim

The barrage of bad news has led one company, market researchers Mogreet, to conclude that Windows Phone 7 will do nothing to help Microsoft get a foothold in the mobile advertising market. Instead, the firm predicts that at some point next year Microsoft will instead simply buy out a major existing mobile firm.

It's been noted that this may prove an easier task thanks to regulatory pressures making Google wary of bidding for similar takeovers, fearing competition investigations for any deal. (Source: prnewswire.com)