14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft revealed a 49 percent revenue drop for its mobile business in the last fiscal quarter, and some people rushed to announce the death of Windows Phone, but according to new statistics, the platform actually recovered in January and posted a small increase.
While Microsoft’s figures as well as Kantar data pointed to a significant decline in December, statistics published on February 1 by Net Applications show that Windows Phone is on the rise once again and has already started getting back closer to the 3 percent mark.
Windows Phone is currently at 2.86 percent, according to the aforementioned source, after previously dropping from 3.14 percent in November to 2.58 percent in December. But last month, the platform actually managed to recover 0.28 percent, and if adoption goes at the same pace, Windows Phone could return at the pre-December levels next month.
Windows Phone part of the Windows world
Obviously, these statistics might not be entirely accurate as they’re based on ad impressions, but they clearly show that, despite all the criticism that has happened lately, Windows Phone doesn’t seem to be a doomed platform.
Microsoft is also hard at work to ship more updates for insiders testing Windows 10 Mobile builds, while also preparing the upgrade version of the operating system for Windows Phone devices.
In the long term, however, Microsoft’s strategy is still uncertain, and it’ll be interesting to see if the company is satisfied with this small market share or it’s still aiming for more.
But one thing is certain: Microsoft doesn’t see Windows 10 Mobile as a stand-alone platform, but as part of the Windows 10 ecosystem, so the 3 percent share might not be a problem after all, especially if the universal app strategy succeeds.
Everyone’s waiting for the stable version of Windows 10 Mobile, though, and according to recent reports, it could debut as soon as this month.