The Windows Phone 7 is seen at the Windows Phone 7 launch news conference in New York October 11, 2010. ©Reuters

BEIJING, Jan. 27 — Software giant Microsoft said on Wednesday it sold more than 2 million copies of its new Windows Phone 7 operating system to handset makers in 2010.

That number represents the software units licensed to mobile handset makers such as Samsung, LG and HTC, not necessarily consumers.

A Wall Street Journal report said this figure is neither high nor low enough to declare the product a success or failure.

The new phone software was launched last October, and the company shipped 1.5 million units to phone makers and mobile operators late December.

Microsoft said early research suggested that 93 percent of customers are satisfied with the Windows Phone 7 devices, and 90 percent would recommend it to others.

The handset software is expected to counter Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android system. Last week Apple declared 16.2 million iPhones were sold in the fourth quarter of last year. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-01/27/c_13709412.htm