A little birdie tweets that AT&T may be betting big on Microsoft’s soon-to-launch Windows Phone 7 (WP7) putting itself down for an order of eight million units.
The tweet, from well-respected tech writer Michael Gartenberg tipped up last week noting “Interesting e-mail from a trusted source. AT&T has apparently signed up for 8 million #WP7 devices. #notkin”
Of course, the tweety tidbit makes no mention of time-frame and viewing the number in the context of Apple shifting 8.4 million iPhones last quarter alone, it suddenly looks less impressive, but if true, it’s a solid win for Winmo, even if it takes AT&T a year to shift them all.
A big advantage for AT&T is that it doesn’t have to put all its WP7 eggs in one basket, as several big manufacturers including LG, Dell, Samsung, Asus and HTC have already announced they will be coming out with devices supporting the OS.
Some are even positing that Blackberry maker RIM has cause for concern, with WP7 phones sporting a plethora of enterprise friendly Microsoft software including Office, Exchange and SharePoint.
Whether the phones will be a hit with consumers remains to be seen, with many early reviews praising the sleek looking interface but slamming the lack of apps, copy-paste, multi-tasking and well-populated app store.
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