14 DAY TRIAL // It's a well-known fact that Windows Phone is currently the third most-used mobile operating system in the world, and although Microsoft still struggles to get closer to both Android and iOS, the 12-month performance is disappointing to say the least.
This graph generated by StatCounter for the December 2013 – December 2014 timeframe shows that Windows Phone barely improved its market share in these 12 months, and despite Microsoft's efforts, only a few buyers actually decided to give its mobile OS a shot.
Of course, Android continues to be the most successful operating system for phones worldwide, and numbers pretty much speak for themselves: no less than 59.15 percent of the mobile phones were powered by Android in December 2014.
iOS is indeed far behind, but still on the second spot, with 23.51 percent.
Slow performance for Windows Phone
As far as Windows Phone is concerned, Microsoft's mobile operating system barely increased its market share last year, and after reaching 2.16 percent in January 2014, it managed to achieve 2.25 in the last month of 2014.
The biggest market share achieved by Windows Phone last year was 2.42 percent in July and November 2014, so it's pretty clear that its performance was pretty much the same throughout 2014.
Windows Phone 10 coming this year
As compared to 2014, 2015 is expected to be a much more successful year for Windows Phone, as Microsoft is planning to introduce both Windows Phone 10 and new devices running it.
Microsoft dropped the Nokia brand in late 2014 and launched its very own Lumia series of phones, so the company is now working to introduce new models wearing its brand but also to finalize Windows Phone 10.
This particular OS version is going to be part of the Windows 10 rollout scheduled to see daylight in the fall of 2015 and likely to bring a plethora of improvements on all supported platforms.
Windows Phone 10 is also said to bring together the smartphone and the tablet operating systems, so Windows RT might see its end this year if this rumor is true. Windows Phone could thus become the sole platform for smartphones and ARM tablets, but this plan is yet to be confirmed by Microsoft.