If sales of Windows Phone 7 handsets had soared post release, surpassing the monthly rates of iPhone and Android in the process, it's unlikely Microsoft wouldn't have claimed such a feat was all part of the plan.

As such, the fact the firm is so unwilling to pin down just how well the platform has performed to date – or even how long it expects it'll be before it's challenging Apple at the top table – suggests sales have been less than stellar.

Uneasy ambitions

In fact, it would appear the platform's somewhat soft launch has resulted in Microsoft re-evaluating Windows Phone 7's short-term prospects.

Any bullish statements regarding its performance have been replaced with the company talking up its newfound credibility instead.

"So far, so good," Microsoft's director of Windows Phone program management Joe Belfiore said of Windows Phone 7's launch at the Dive Into Mobile conference, before adding that the company isn't currently talking numbers.

When asked just when Microsoft expects to be taking on iPhone and Android in the sales race, Belfiore was even vaguer, suggesting it may take more than a couple of years for Windows Phone 7 to grab significant market share.

Mountain to climb

The problem, in the view of the platform's developer ecosystem GM Charlie Kindel, is that the OS represents a complete reset.

Microsoft stumbled with Windows Mobile, and it's now paying the price.

"Our goals are long-term and ambitious, but also we recognise that we're coming from behind," Kindel said at LeWeb '10, adding that Microsoft plans to sell "a lot" of handsets in 2011.

"We are climbing the mountain of the smartphone marketplace for ten years now...and we stumbled," Kindel said of Windows Phone 7's predecessor.

"We failed to execute, and some competitors came along: iPhone, BlackBerry Android - they're the boulder that rolled over our arm."

No sale on sales

Again, any hint of sales talk was ignored, with Kindel instead focusing on how the platform has begun to change people's perceptions of Microsoft's hand in the smartphone space.

"We feel like we're in a place where we're now credible," Kindel added.

"Most of the industry is looking at it and saying 'wow, this is for real...it's still not the leader in the pack, but it's for real'."

Recent studies have suggested Windows Phone 7 has performed poorly in Europe to date, although the platform reported generated much attention in Germany at launch, with 2010 sales alone expected to hit six figures.

[source: TechCrunch/Mobile Entertainment]