14 DAY TRIAL // There’s no doubt that Windows Phone is currently the underdog of the smartphone OS market and it has really small chances to compete with Android and iOS in certain markets, but Microsoft’s software gains ground every single month.
Living proof is the latest batch of statistics provided by comScore for the United States, as they reveal that Windows Phone continues to be the third top mobile operating system in the country, with a slight increase in August 2014.
Android remains the king of smartphones in the United States with a market share of 52 percent, down 0.1 percent from May 2014, while Apple’s very own iOS is the runner-up with 42.0 percent, up 0.1 percent.
Windows Phone is far behind with a market share in August 2014 of 3.5 percent, up only 0.1 percent from May 2014.
As far as the top smartphone OEMs in the United States are concerned, Microsoft and Nokia are not even included in the top 5 chart led by Apple and Samsung with market shares of 42 percent and 28.9 percent, respectively.
Microsoft working to tackle Android in the US
Even though there’s absolutely no doubt that Windows Phone would have a pretty impossible mission to compete with Android on the American market, Microsoft seems really willing to at least try to challenge its domination with very affordable devices.
In fact, this is what Microsoft is trying to do all over the world, planning to release cheap Windows Phone devices that could compete with those running Android. It’s a well-known fact that Android has really effectively tackled this side of the business, and Microsoft is now trying to do the same not only in emerging markets, but also in those well-developed, such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Recently, the Redmond-based technology giant has launched the Lumia 530 in the United States, making it available to buyers in the country for only $69 (55 euro) without a contract.
Nokia Lumia 530 is powered by Windows Phone 8.1 and comes with a quad-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of storage space, and support for microSD cards with a maximum of 128 GB of space.
The phone has a 4-inch display with a resolution of 480x854 px, a 5MP camera, and a 1430 mAh battery, which, according to Microsoft’s numbers, should provide up to 10 hours of talk time.
At the same time, Microsoft is also believed to be working on a device that would retail for approximately $50 (36 euro) in the United States, but the company isn’t yet ready to share more details on this particular project.
