"You can't judge a product by its launch," he said. "Are there millions using WP7? No. But right out of the gate, Microsoft's put WP7 into consideration. That's what [Microsoft] wanted."

He wasn't surprised at the sales number Berg quoted. "AT&T has been running a buy-one-get-one-free [WP7 phone] promotion since November, and after all, this is the time of the year for consumers to look at smartphones," Llamas said.

But Microsoft has a harder row to hoe than did Apple when it launched its first-generation in mid-2007. "They're trying to convert all those Windows Mobile naysayers," Llamas said of the poor reception Microsoft's previous mobile operating system received last year.

The key, Llamas argued, is that is now at the smartphone table, a point other analysts have made. "They've at least piqued user interest, and that's important," he said.

Apple sold approximately 1.4 million iPhones in the first three months after its June 2007 introduction, but since then competition has dramatically increased. Google, for example, boasted several weeks ago that carriers are activating an estimated 300,000 Android-powered phones daily, while Apple said it in the quarter that ended Sept. 30.