14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone is set to receive a major update as part of the Windows 10 rollout, but in the meantime, Microsoft's mobile platform keeps losing users in some countries and winning new ones in others, as interest is growing thanks to Redmond's recent announcements.
A new set of stats provided by Kantar show that, in December, Windows Phone continued its decline in some countries despite news that Windows 10 for phones would arrive in just a few months and it would be available free of charge to all currently supported devices running Microsoft's mobile OS.
On the other hand, all the rumors swirling around before the year-end (as these stats were recorded before the January 21 announcements) boosted demand for Windows Phones in some markets, including Australia and Germany.
Down in the UK and China, up in France and Australia
As far as the United States market is concerned, Microsoft's Windows Phone managed to increase its share from 3 percent in November 2014 to 3.8 percent in December. And yet, this is a decline of 0.5 percent as compared to December 2013, when Windows Phone was powering 4.3 percent of the smartphones in the country.
In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, Windows Phone dropped from 11.3 percent in December 2013 and 7 percent in November 2014 to 6.6 percent in December 2014.
Germans purchased more Windows Phones in December than they did in November 2014 and December 2013, as the market share increased to 7.4 percent from 7.1 and 5.9 percent, respectively.
Last but not least, China, which continues to be one of the biggest tech markets in the world, is still a rather refractive region to Windows Phone, as its share dropped from 1.1 percent in December 2013 to 0.7 percent in the same month of 2014.
Obviously, expectations are high when it comes to Windows Phone adoption, as Microsoft is getting ready to release the first preview build of Windows 10 for phones these days and the final version of the OS later this year.