The latest smartphone sales number from Canalys are pretty interesting. They show Apple’s iPhone surpassing sales of Windows Mobile devices for the third quarter of 2007. This is undoubtedly a great achievement for the Apple iPhone but as with all statistics, you have to put everything in perspective. First off – this was simply the first quarter that the iPhone was available in the North American market. These are not the final year numbers and Windows Mobile will undoubtedly beat out the iPhone in the bigger picture. Also remember that the iPhone was one of the most highly anticipated (and hyped-up) devices in recent memory – thus anything less than spectacular sales would have been disappointing to anyone out there. Keep in mind that the Apple marketing machine too (and give them lots of credit too) had a lot to do with the hype that was built up for the iPhone. Truth is – you never really see Windows Mobile commercials but you do see a significant amount of iPhone commercials out there. (heck.. I see more Microsoft Sync commercials than Windows Mobile device commercials). In any event, this doesn’t take anything away the overall achievement of the iPhone beating out Windows Mobile sales (second only to BlackBerry right now for Q3). We just need to keep everything in perspective. Things can easily change in Q4 or even next year. This year’s fan favorite can quickly turn into a lackluster performer (Motorola can certainly attest to that with the RAZR).

[Check it out via Kontrib]

Technorati Tags: Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile, Q3 sales