We’re here at Le Web 2010 in Paris, where organizer Loic Le Meur is doing an on-stage Q&A with Charlie Kindel, General Manager for the Windows Phone Developer Ecosystem at Microsoft.
Asked how many phones Microsoft has sold to date, Kindel declined to answer the question (sound familiar?).
He only said they “plan to sell a lot in 2011”, referring to it as a “long-term project”.
Which, in my mind, means sales are really disappointing right now, admittedly only one and a half month in.
Kindel said he recognizes that Microsoft is far behind right now, but remains ambitious in its mobile efforts.
Le Meur proclaimed that mobile app developers have a terrible life, having to build applications for a multitude of platforms today. He asked Kindel why developers should be interested in Windows Phone 7.
Vague answer (paraphrased): we built the phone to be different, so developers can also create different experiences. Meh.
According to Kindel, the development tools have been downloaded 750,000 times since WP7’s debut, and about 50,000 developers have signed up so far.
Le Meur: is Microsoft building its own phone?
Kindel: I don’t think so. There are now nine different models available, and we’ll continue to work with hardware manufacturers to build more. It’s a model we’re comfortable with.
Le Meur: what about tablets?
Kindel: Nothing to announce right now, but we’ll be coming out with interesting stuff in the next year.
Kindel concluded the interview by saying that Windows Phone 7 makes Microsoft credible again in the mobile space, but that they have a lot of mountains left to climb.
He recognizes that the company still has a long way to go, but he stressed that they’re really proud of the product right now.
Now if only they’d let us know how well it’s selling.