Ballmer on WP7: ''We've Gone From Very Small To... Very Small''

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has used his opening speech to the firm's Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference to explain that its new mobile OS, Windows Phone 7, is struggling to take off.

Windows Phone 7 is still new--and expensive--but growth has so far been sluggish, despite the fact that it's in a very dynamic market and that its innovative interface was broadly welcomed by the press when it launched less than a year ago.  Although Microsoft is cagey about giving the exact numbers, very few WP7 handsets have so far been sold.

Less than a year after releasing WP7, Ballmer admitted that the software's market share had gone ''from very small ... to very small''.

But Ballmer is optimistic about the future of his company's OS.  Nokia has chosen the software for its next generation of handsets, which are set to arrive at the end of the year.  The Finnish firm might not be doing that well at the moment, but it's still the number one mobile manufacturer worldwide and enjoys an incredibly good reputation for the quality of its hardware.

All eyes on Android

And launch partners HTC, Samsung and LG are all set to release more new handsets running WP7, although it's fair to say that all three companies focus on Android.

Microsoft has signed up other manufacturers, including ZTE and Acer, who will both soon launch new handsets running WP7, which should help open it up to a wider range of consumers and bring it more visibility in the marketplace.

Finally, Ballmer is hoping that the Mango update will give the OS a further boost.  The forthcoming software update is set to add a broad range of new features to WP7. 

To close his speech, Ballmer couldn't resist citing two recent reports from analysts IDC and Gartner, who predict that WP7 will be the world's second largest OS by 2015. 

That's all very optimistic: Gartner only predicts a market share of 6% for WP7 this year, with the real growth beginning in 2013.

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