Windows Phone has had a pretty good quarter gaining market share in many markets and securing its spot in the third position worldwide.
According to the latest data from Kantar which tracked smartphone sales up until February, Microsoft’s fledgling OS has had a good start for 2015. Of course its competitors have also had a strong start to the year so the current gain may account for little in the long run.
Looking at the data, Windows Phone shows up as a real contender in Europe, where the smartphone OS secured its spot with 10.1% market share across the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy. Meanwhile, in the same markets, Android lost just shy of 3% market share which was quickly scooped up by Apple’s iOS which now sits on 20.9% of the market. The increases are relative to the same time last year.
Looking at individual countries, Windows Phone saw a substantial jump in places like France and Australia where the operating system gained 5.9% and 4.3% respectively. However the OS still fares poorly in important markets such as the US where it only accounts for 4.8% and China where the OS is under 1%.
Meanwhile iOS saw jumps in market share across the board, continuing a trend we observed last year when the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus reinvigorated the markets. Android, on the other hand, saw significant drops in most markets, losing 5.1% in France, 9.4% in China and 3% across the big EU countries.
While iOS and Android have their own momentum, Windows Phone’s gains are interesting and likely attributable to better distribution and lower-priced devices. If Microsoft could take this lesson to heart and focus on the markets where it is succeeding perhaps the OS will see continued gains.
Source: Kantar
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