14 DAY TRIAL // Windows phone was off for a slow start, and the platform’s performance on the market remains unimpressive still, though it appears that it might not be too long before things will change.
A recent report from Digitimes Research suggests that the platform will manage to gain 6.2 percent of the market during the next year, considerably higher than what it enjoys at the moment.
Moreover, the research firm suggests that there will be a number of more than 40 million Windows Phone devices sold during the next year.
This will keep Windows Phone on the top five mobile operating systems out there, and it might even send it to the top-three list.
Android will remain leader on the market with 57.6 percent share, the research firm notes, while Apple’s iOS will remain on the second position with 18.1 percent of the market (it is expected to ship 121 million units).
RIM’s Blackberry platform is expected to lose a lot of ground in 2012. Along with webOS, Symbian, MeeGo, and other mobile platforms, it will be part of the rest of the 18.1 percent of the smartphone market.
Clearly, the partnership that Microsoft and Nokia announced back in February will offer Windows Phone the possibility to grow faster than it did so far.
In 2012, the Finnish mobile phone maker is expected to ramp up mass production for its Windows Phone devices. Complemented by expanded availability around the world, it should help the platform gain more market share on the smartphone segment.
Windows Phone will struggle to take the second position on the market from Apple’s iOS, and is expected to do so in a few years’ time, some of the previous analyst reports suggested.
Of course, Android will remain the leader during the next year, and, most probably, for several years to come. Some suggest that its increased customization features are those who help it strengthen its position at the top of the market.