Microsoft: We'll Sell 30 Million Phones in 18 Months

With the Kin One and Two impressing approximately no one, the world is looking to Windows Phone 7 to see what Microsoft is really bringing to the table in terms of competition for Apple and Google.

The first WP7 consignment is due in the fall of this year. Ballmer says in time for the holidays but several reports suggest some manufacturers will get their ducks in a line in time for a September launch. Despite a launch that is no where close to the Windows Phone 7 announcement (which was back in March), Microsoft is extremely optimistic about the OS and how many phones the company will shift.

Microsoft is estimating they'll sell 30 million Windows Phone 7 devices by the end of 2011, or in the next 18 months. When you take away the three months between now and September, that gives Microsoft just 15 months to sell 30 million units. That's 2 million phones per month.

At a ReMix conference in France yesterday, Microsoft said it expects 40 percent of the phones sold in 2011 to be smartphones. This is compared with just 14 percent of phones this year. It seems the company believes that with this high number, the company believes it can shift 30 million devices by the end of 2011.

MobileTechWorld, which attended the conference, reminds us that to date, Apple has sold 51,234,000 iPhones.

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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.