Microsoft -- Windows Phone 7 will grab more than 20% of smartphone market by 2015

The reports of Windows Phone 7's slow death are thoroughly off-base, says Achim Berg, head of Windows Phone marketing, and predicts that Windows Phone 7 will rocket to more than 20% of the worldwide smartphone market by 2015. It seems unlikely, but Berg says he has facts and plans to back it up.

Berg made his prediction at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin, Bloomberg reports. Both Gartner and IDC have both projected that Windows Phone 7 will have a market share of 20% by 2015, and Berg calls those estimates conservative.

On what does Berg base his predictions? First, he says there will be more help from hardware partners. HTC will begin running ads for the company's Windows Phone 7-based Titan and Radar phones in Europe, which will be available October 1. They'll both run Mango, the newest version of Windows Phone 7.

Florian Seiche, HTC President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told Bloomberg that the company will begin a big push for Windows Phone 7 devices:

"We're seeing an extremely positive response [to Windows Phone 7] We're now thinking that this year is a great time to get that momentum accelerated, to reach out to a broader group of customers."

Nokia, of course will ultimately base its entire smartphone line on Windows Phone 7, and Berg expects a big push there as well.

It appears that Microsoft is also taking action to combat one of Windows Phone 7's major problems -- the poor training that salespeople have gotten about it, which translates to salespeople not pushing the phones at retail locations. Berg said at the show that Microsoft is partnering with HTC to train hundreds of salespeople about the new HTC devices.

Berg points to the early days of Android and the iPhone, and notes that it took those platforms a while to take off as well. He believes that eventually Windows Phone 7 will sell well, telling Reuters:

"This is a completely new platform, it takes time. It took time with Android, it took time with Apple. We have to show that we're very capable and that we have the fastest and easiest phone."

Is Berg right? One indication will come relatively soon, when the new Mango-based HTC phones go on sale in Europe. If they don't take off, that will be very bad news, because they'll carry the latest version of Windows Phone 7, will have significant marketing behind them, and will have a well-trained sales force pushing them.

If the HTC phones do sell, though, it could be an early indication that Berg is right, and Windows Phone 7 will eventually become a contender.