Windows Phone Thoughts: Just How Many WP7 Smartphones Have Been Sold?

"Direct sales figures for Windows Phone 7 handsets have been remarkably difficult to come by since Microsoft's OS reboot at the end of last year, but here come the stat gurus at Gartner to provide us with their best estimate. 3.6 million of the world's smartphone sales in the past quarter were counted under the Microsoft mobile OS umbrella, of which 1.6 million featured the very latest WP7 software. That means Redmond partners sold more Windows Mobile devices in the first three months of 2011 than ones bearing the sparkling new operating system."

With all the Mango news today, it is still interesting to speculate just how many WP7 phones have been sold to-date. According to this Engadget article, Gartner has estimated the magic number to be 1.6 million. With what you have seen of the new functionality provided by the Mango update, and with the new relationship with Nokia, do you think we will start to see an acceleration in the number of WP7-based smartphones sold?