14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone revenues dropped significantly during the latest fiscal quarter and everyone rushed to predict the death of the platform, but it appears that it’s not all that bad for Microsoft’s mobile operating system.
New comScore data comparing January 2016 market share figures with those in October 2015 reveal that Windows Phone has the exact share of smartphone subscribers, remaining very close to the 3 percent threshold that seems to define the platform these days.
Specifically, Windows Phone is currently at 2.7 percent in the United States, comScore says, which is the same market share that Microsoft had in October 2015. Android and iOS had similar performance too, with the first currently at 52.8 percent (down just 0.1 percent), while the latter grew 0.3 percent to 43.6 percent.
The lack of apps on Windows Phone
What’s a little bit more worrying, however, is that many of the most popular smartphone apps right now are not available on Windows Phone, which once again brings the lack of apps issue on the platform in the spotlight.
According to comScore, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, YouTube, and several other Google apps are among the top apps for smartphone users in the US, and many of these do not exist on Windows Phone. And the chances are that they’ll never do, especially given the fact that Google has expressed absolutely no intention regarding Windows Phone versions of its apps.
There were some rumors that Google could change its mind with the arrival of Windows 10 Mobile, but it appears that this isn’t the case and Microsoft users must stick with alternatives for the time being.
On the good side, Windows Phone appears to live on despite the criticism and that’s definitely a good thing, especially because the arrival of Windows 10 Mobile is expected to be a breath of fresh air for the platform and help increase the market share. For the moment, however, nobody can tell for sure when Windows 10 Mobile is expected to launch.