AT&T wishes Windows Phone 7 was selling better

In May we had a senior VP of AT&T noting that Windows Phone 7 was “doing fine” on the “premier carrier” for the OS, but fast forward a month later and we have AT&T’s CEO of Mobility Ralph De La Vega singing a slightly different tune.

At the All Things D conference he admitted that sales have fallen below both his and Microsoft’s expectations, but also hinted that the Nokia deal would change that, and that AT&T would be carrying such hardware.

The relevant comments are:

Nokia has made this huge bet on Windows Phone. One of the reasons, they have said, is to have a bigger presence then they have in many years in North America. How interested are you in adding them to your lineup.

De La Vega: We already have Windows Phone 7 in our lineup. We actually like that software very, very much. It hasn’t sold as well as Microsoft or us would want it to, but I think having the Nokia hardware capability with the Microsoft software capability is a really good combination. They have to prove it by bringing some great devices to market. But I would love to have a great Nokia device with Microsoft Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone 7, is it a hard sell, or are their features that are missing?

De La Vega: Keep in mind this is the first product that Microsoft has come out with since Microsoft redid their OS. I think for the first thing out of the chute it is pretty good. I think they just need to make it better. If you listen to what Steve Ballmer is saying (Mango, the next version), is going to add about 500 features. I think they are going to make it a lot better. Giving customers more application choices, having a bigger app store with more functionality on the phone, I think that is all that it needs.

Actually, I loved Windows 8. That looks a lot like a Windows Phone screen, with the tiles. I think that’s a huge win for Microsoft. Now they have their same look and feel on their PCs and tablets as they have on their smartphones.

With user satisfaction very high, the likely the greatest reason for slow sales are the lack of new hardware, which could not come fast enough.

Read the full interview at AllthingsD here.