Nick Eaton reports in the Seattle PI that Microsoft's total revenues from Windows Phone in fiscal year 2011 (which ended June 30, 2011 and covers the preceding 365 day) were $613 million. He derives this figure from a recently revealed Microsoft SEC filing. And that's the maximum amount of revenues Windows Phone made, because that figure actually includes revenues from Zune, Mediaroom, Surface and hardware too. So it's likely that the real figure is just a fraction of that.
Here's the math. Microsoft noted that its Entertainment and Devices Division recorded $8.716 billion in FY 2011. But according to the SEC filing, the Xbox 360 platform was responsible for most of that, or $8.103 billion. Subtract the two and you get the earnings for the remaining EDD products, which include Windows Phone. That figure is $613 million.
Eaton points out that even the Windows Phone portion of that number, whatever it is, is partially attributed to Windows Mobile, the previous Windows Phone platform. That's true enough, but it's not accurate that Windows Mobile was on the market for "nearly half" of the fiscal year. With Windows Phone 7 launching in October, Windows Mobile was only the "current" phone product for three of those months (July-September 2010) and let's face it, no one was buying new Windows Mobile phones in that time period anyway.
I think it's fairer to say that most Windows Phone revenues from FY 2011 were in fact from Windows Phone 7.
Given the various non-Xbox products made by EDD, I think it's fair to say that the hardware stuff (mice, keyboards) probably do pretty well. Zune, Mediaroom, and Surface probably combined to contribute almost nothing. So at worst, Windows Phone represents probably half of those revenues ($300+ million) or, at best, as much as two-thirds of those remaining revenues ($400+ million).
By way of comparison, Apple's iPhone platform generated $13.3 billion in revenues in the previous quarter alone. This is more than a bit unfair of a comparison, since those revenues include hardware sales, which generate much, much more revenues than software licenses. But you get the idea. iPhone big. Windows Phone small.
Are these figures "abysmal," as Eaton believes? Or is this just the start of a wonderful upward trend?