Window Phone 8 Sales Will 'Really Ramp Quickly,' Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Says

Microsoft's CEO Isn't Worried About Windows Phone 8 Just Yet
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introduces a Windows Phone 8 device, WIndows Phone 8X by HTC, during Microsoft's special media event at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco on October 29, 2012 in California. AFP Photo Kimihiro Hoshino (Photo credit should read KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/Getty Images)
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introduces a Windows Phone 8 device, WIndows Phone 8X by HTC, during Microsoft's special media event at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco on October 29, 2012 in California. AFP Photo Kimihiro Hoshino (Photo credit should read KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/Getty Images)

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Windows Phone 8 being launched with its partners would create a strong third player in the smartphone market and sell quickly.

"With the work we have done with Nokia, HTC, Samsung and others ... there is now an opportunity to create really a strong third participant in the smartphone market," Ballmer said at an event to launch Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system in Israel, referring to Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms.

"We're still relatively small ... I expect the volumes on Windows Phone to really ramp quickly."

Ballmer said Microsoft will do more marketing and advertising around Windows 8, its Surface tablet and Windows Phone than any products the company had ever done. (Reporting by Tova Cohen and Steven Scheer)

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