Microsoft: 2012 Will Be Big For Windows Phone

LAS VEGAS -- It's not too late for Windows Phone, Microsoft's Greg Sullivan says. There's been a lot of debate around Microsoft's platform recently, which has jumped into prominence here at CES with the new and phones. The Windows Phone product manager said that 2012 will be an "inflection point" for sales of the company's platform.

"We're seeing great hardware from all our partners. AT&T is clearly very excited, and is putting a lot behind the platform. It's not just a piece of software that got thrown over the transom to succeed or fail," Sullivan said.

But while Windows Phone is seeing some success with AT&T, not every carrier is as enthusiastic. Earlier at the show, I heard some , who said the HTC Arrive phone under-performed in terms of sales.

"That's something that our Sprint team and the folks back in Redmond can work on," Sullivan said. While Microsoft can provide support for Sprint, though, Sullivan couldn't exactly confirm more CDMA Windows phones were coming soon, and the sheer lack of viable device options is one big reason why Windows Phone hasn't made a dent at Verizon or Sprint.

"We're working closely with carriers to help show how Windows Phone can meet their needs across an array of slots," Sullivan said.

Sullivan also backed up , who told PCMAG that rumors Microsoft was buying Nokia's smartphone business were false. Microsoft wants multiple hardware partners to light up a "broad range of hardware," he said.

"It would make it more difficult for us to have as thriving a third-party hardware ecosystem if we were directly competing with them," he said. "I think that's a challenge Google is going to face with the Motorola mobile acquisition."

Most of all, Sullivan wanted to make it clear that it's still early in Windows Phone's evolution. With millions of people switching from feature phones to smart phones and incumbents like RIM losing market share, it's clear that the mobile OS landscape isn't locked down, he said. That gives Microsoft a lot of opportunities to grow Windows Phone in 2012, he said.

"This is like the PC market in the early-to-mid-80s. If you were going to declare a victor then, what would it have been? CP/M? Apple II? I think declaring the smartphone space locked up and done is like declaring CP/M the victor in the early '80s."