A Microsoft executive based in China said that the company’s Windows Phone platform has overtaken Apple’s iPhone in terms of market share, two months after the first devices using the OS reached the market.

According to Dutch business publication Emerce, Michel van der Bel, COO for Microsoft in Greater China, said that Windows Phone now has 7 percent smartphone market share, ahead of around 6 percent for iOS – but some way behind the almost 70 percent held by Android.

The executive acknowledged that Microsoft is lagging in terms of available apps, but noted that the company is “investing heavily” in rectifying this.

Taiwanese newspaper DigiTimes said that some, unnamed “industry sources” had warned that the success of Windows Phone may be short lived, having seen a short-term bump through the introduction of the new models – rather than being a steady level achieved through prolonged sales.

The first Windows Phone devices targeting the Chinese market were launched in March 2012, led by HTC’s X310e, which was followed by a CDMA smartphone from Nokia and China Telecom.

Apple offers its iPhone through China Unicom and China Telecom, but does not (yet) offer a version supporting the TD-SCDMA 3G technology of China Mobile – the world’s biggest operator by subscriber numbers.