14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system is selling well in China. In fact, it is selling so well that it left Apple’s iPhone behind on the local market.
Michel van der Bel, COO Greater China Region at Microsoft, claims that Windows Phones are already up for a 7 percent share in China.
In only two months following its official launch in the country, the platform managed to outsell Apple’s iPhone 4S, which accounts for only 6 percent market share.
"We have only just begun," Michel van der Bel reportedly stated. China is the largest smartphone market in the world, with Android leading the pack.
Van der Bel also said that Windows Phone is expected to gain more traction among Chinese users when combined with the upcoming Windows 8 tablets.
“Our smartphone and tablet-pc are hybrid, making them suitable for the consumer, but also easy to insert within an existing company infrastructure. This will allow us to better anticipate the consumerization of IT than many competitors,” he said.
Before the end of the year, Windows Phone is expected to grab 7.5 percent of the smartphone market in the country, and it should reach 15 percent next year.
The rival iPhone is previsioned to account for a 12 percent share in China in 2012, and for 13 percent next year. Android should secure 70 percent of the market this year.
Van der Bel also suggested that Microsoft and its partners would still have to work hard on the software area, so as to ensure that users have enough applications at their disposal to consider Windows Phone a viable option.
"We indeed still have a battle. There are currently working at our R & D Department 2,500 people in China. We will invest heavily in there," he said.
Windows Phone managed to overtake the iPhone in Russia as well, and Nokia's Lumia devices are currently said to get more search hits on Google than Verizon’s DROID series do.