14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform seems to have gained more traction in Europe than it most other regions. The operating system is ranked number three worldwide, but, obviously, it has been tagged with different market shares in various countries.
Research firm Kantar has just released its latest market share numbers for the last three months ending in April 2014 and judging by the statistics, Windows Phone operating seems to have strengthened its third position in the ranking, but without really threatening the iOS, which is placed second behind Android.
Based on these numbers, Windows Phone market share in Europe has increased to 8.4% from last year’s 6.9%. Although Windows Phone’s market share did not increase by much, at least it’s a clear sign that people are starting to adopt Microsoft mobile platform either by switching from other operating systems or by choosing a Windows Phone device as their first smartphone.
However, it appears that Windows Phone has more fans in Europe than in the United States, where the mobile platform’s market share dropped from 5.6% last year to 4.7% in April. That’s 0.9% down and the reason seems to be the fact that Nokia and Microsoft have not launched too many devices this year.
That’s understandable given the fact that both companies had to close the acquisition deal announced last year. Now that things have settled down a bit, we expect Windows Phone to boost its market share in the United States by the end of the year.
The highest market share increase recorded by Windows Phone was in France where the platform is now at no less than 10.1% from last year’s 6.2%.
However, France is not the country with the highest Windows Phone market share. Italy seems to have the highest number of Windows Phone fans, as the operating system now has 11.8% market share in this country.
Windows Phone had a small market share increase in Germany and the UK, where the platform has been recorded with 6.9% (previously 6.6%) and 9.5% (previously 8.6%) share.
The bad news is that Windows Phone seems to have lost in China, one of the largest smartphone markets in the world. Microsoft’s mobile platform dropped from 2.2% market share last year to only 0.8% in April 2014.
Hopefully, the situation will improve with the recent release of the Nokia Lumia 630 with Windows Phone 8.1 in China. The same goes for other markets mentioned in Kantar’s reports.