14 DAY TRIAL // Let’s face it, Microsoft’s mobile business is not doing very well these days and the company itself has admitted that Windows Phone revenues dropped by nearly a half in the latest financial quarter.
And while this made many people rush and say that Windows Phone is dead, there’s also a good part of the story and it’s easy to see the glass half full if you love the platform.
The latest numbers provided by analyst firm Gartner also point to a decline of Windows Phone, with its market share dropping from 2.8 percent in Q4 2014 to no less than 1.1 percent in the same quarter of 2015. This means that in 12 months, Windows Phone lost 1.7 percent of its share, so it recorded a decline of more than 50 percent.
But despite this collapse, Windows Phone continues to be the world’s third most-used mobile operating system and a quick look on statistics shows that this isn’t going to change anytime soon.
Android dominates the mobile world
Android leads the market with 325 million sold phones in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to Gartner, while iOS is far behind with 71.5 million. The huge difference is made by affordable phones, the analyst firm says, as Android devices can be purchased for a lower price as compared to iPhones which only come with high-end prices.
Windows Phone is third with 4.3 million units sold during the quarter, which is nearly 5 times more phones than BlackBerry, the next company in the list with just 906,000 devices and a 0.2 percent market share. The Canadian manufacturer also experienced a drop of more than 50 percent in Q4, as it declined from 0.5 percent in Q4 2014 to 0.2 percent one year later.
The difference between Windows Phone and BlackBerry was even bigger in 2014, when Microsoft sold nearly 10.5 million phones during the quarter, while the Canadians were far behind with just 1.7 million.
Certainly, both Windows Phone and BlackBerry will live on despite these figures, as the two companies have already created recovery plans that should help them boost their shares. While Microsoft plans to invest more in the Universal App Platform, BlackBerry wants to go all-in on Android, with several mid-range devices expected this year.
