Gartner: 1.6 million Windows Phone 7 handsets sold to customers in Q1 2011

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q11 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q11 Units	1Q11 Market Share (%)	1Q10 Units	1Q10 Market Share (%)
Android	36,267.8	36.0	5,226.6	9.6
Symbian	27,598.5	27.4	24,067.7	44.2
iOS	16,883.2	16.8	8,359.7	15.3
Research In Motion	13,004.0	12.9	10,752.5	19.7
Microsoft	3,658.7	3.6	3,696.2	6.8
Other OS	3,357.2	3.3	2,402.9	4.4
Total	100,769.3	100.0	54,505.5	100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2011)

Gartner has released some numbers we do not usually see from analyst companies – sales to end users.  Relevant to us is the sales of Windows Phone 7 and the numbers do not look too bright.

According to Gartner 3.658 million Microsoft OS phones were sold to end users in Q1 2011 which is actually less than the numbers sold in Q1 2010, when Windows Phone 7 was announced but of course well before its release.  Given the tremendous growth of the market itself over this period ( nearly 100%) this number should be incredibly disappointing.

Even more worrying is that Gartner goes on to separate Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 sales, saying:

Windows Phone saw only modest sales that reached 1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011, as devices launched at the end of 2010 failed to grow in consumer preference and CSPs continued to focus on Android. In the long term, Nokia’s support will accelerate Windows Phone’s momentum.

This effectively means that even in Q1 2011 Windows Mobile outsold Windows Phone 7, which is rather hard to believe, given the massive marketing Microsoft has put into the OS, compared to the Windows Mobile days.

The numbers need more analysis, but the short of it is that consumers are not choosing Windows Phone 7, and that for Microsoft to succeed they need to do everything possible to change it.

Why do our readers feel Windows Phone 7 has so far failed to catch on? Let us know below.