14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone fans are among the most vocal in the United States and the recent release of Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview is likely to have increased their numbers given all the goodies that Microsoft promised to bring to its mobile platform.
According to Nielsen marketing research firm, the Windows Phone operating system has finally managed to increase its market share in the United States even if only by little.
Those who have previously studied Windows Phone’s market share in the United States over the last couple of years probably know that Microsoft’s mobile platform struggled at 2% share for quite a long time.
The good news is that as of Q1 2014, Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform has finally managed to grow past the 2% threshold and has now reached 3% of market share in the United States.
Along with the slight growth in market share, Windows Phone overtook BlackBerry, which is now ranked fourth place in the US with only 2%.
More importantly, Nielsen claims that starting this year, more than half of mobile users of all age groups now own smartphones.
“51 percent of mobile owners over the age of 55 now own smartphones, up 10 percent from Q1 2013, driving the growth in smartphone penetration to seven out of 10 Americans overall (70%). And smartphone penetration continues to grow every day, with 85 percent of recent acquirers picking smartphones when purchasing new handsets.”
Of all the smartphone owners in the United States, no less than 52% use Android devices, while 42% favor Apple’s iOS operating system.
However, the most important brand in the US remains Apple with 42.5% of market share, while Samsung is now ranked second with only 28.7%. LG and Motorola are next in line with 7% and 6.8%, respectively.
HTC (5.7%), BlackBerry (2%) and Nokia (2%) complete the hierarchy of the most popular smartphone manufacturers in the United States.
One last thing that’s worth mentioning is the fact that Nokia has doubled its market share in the United States since last year, jumping from 1% to 2%, which is one of the reasons that the Windows Phone platform has managed to overtake BlackBerry and has captured 3% of the smartphone market.