Windows Phone seems to be on the up and up lately. According to earlier reports Microsoft's mobile market share had increased significantly by the end of 2012 and that trend seems to still be going on.
According to the latest info from Kantar WorldPanel, Windows Phone is still seeing significant growth in the UK. As with earlier reports, this data shows that Microsoft is making inroads in Europe and other parts of the world but still lagging behind when it comes to the US. Kantar's data shows that in the last three months of last year Windows Phone reached a 6% marketshare in the UK, up considerably from 2.4% at the end of 2011.
iOS and Android are still dominating the UK market with Apple accounting for 30.6% of smartphone sales while Android, dominated by Samsung, took the lion's share with 56.2%. However Windows Phone has become the obvious 3rd player in this game and they seem to be going strong. Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, explains:
Nokia is spearheading this growth, with the Lumia 800 the leader among the Windows handsets. However, it is not the only manufacturer benefiting from the increasing popularity of Windows. HTC’s 8X is now the third bestselling Windows device in Great Britain, demonstrating the clear cross-manufacturer opportunity of the platform.
Kantar's data also shows something surprising and encouraging for the Windows Phone ecosystem. 30% of Microsoft's new customers were actually poached from other operating systems including 17% percent from Android and 6% from BlackBerry. Sunnebo further explains:
Understanding the source of growth for the Windows platform is crucial to devise and implement the right marketing and sales strategy. The fact that nearly one in five new customers switched from an Android device should give Microsoft, and its partners, confidence that its OS has what it takes to bring the fight to more established platforms. As almost 30% of its customers switch from rival OS’s, the worry that Microsoft will have to rely on attracting the dwindling pool of first time smartphone buyers to drive future growth is reduced.
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