Report: Windows Phone 7 Sells 40K Units On Launch Day

Sales for Microsoft's Xbox Live- and gaming-enabled Windows Phone 7 are off to a slow start, according to new reports, but one analyst said the new platform still has a chance to gain traction before the crucial holiday shopping season. Financial site TheStreet cited an unnamed source involved in phone sales tracking who said Microsoft sold just 40,000 new phones on the operating system's launch Monday, amid an ad campaign that cost a reported $100 million. Microsoft has yet to announce official sales figures for its Windows Phone 7 platform, which is spread across a lineup of nine different phone models. It's that broad range of models that may be confusing customers, Cote Collaborative industry strategist Michael Cote said. "In the phone world, our surveys show that there should be a choice between A or B." For example, said Cote, "offer one phone with a keyboard and another with no keyboard." Cote also criticized Microsoft's decision to launch the phone on a Monday instead of a Friday or Saturday. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in August that there are 200,000 Android phones activated every day. In August, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the iPhone 4 had sold 3 million units since its X launch in June. For now, analysts are watching for Windows Phone 7's holiday sales, particularly those on Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. Nielsen analyst Roger Etner told TheStreet that the soft initial sales don't necessarily spell doom for Microsoft in the mobile market. "The first Android phone was not a big seller at T-Mobile," he said. Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled a large lineup of Windows Phone 7 games, with support from Electronic Arts, Digital Chocolate, Powerhead Games and many other developers and publishers.