Windows Phones Gaining In Popularity In UK
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The latest research posted by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech has shown that the Windows Phone platform has finally started to gain ground on its competitors in the UK.
In the last quarter of 2012 Microsoft's operating systems accounted for 5.9 per cent of the smartphone market. This signifies a growth of 0.8 per cent compared to the 3rd quarter of last year and a rise of 3.7 per cent compared to the same period in 2011.
The vast majority of this rise is due to the success of Nokia's Windows smartphone which accounted for 6.2 per cent of all smartphone sales. That is a growth of over 50 per cent based on the same quarter of 2011 and is based on the success of Nokia's Windows Phone 8 Lumia smartphones.
Both Microsoft and Nokia have invested a huge amount in promoting the Windows Phone 8 platform , so they'll both be grateful to their investment finally paying off in the UK. However, they've still got a long way to go to catchup with Android and iOS.
Google's Android platform still accounted for a whopping 54 per cent of UK smartphone sales, while Apple's platform had a 32 per cent share. Samsung's smartphone commanded 35 per cent of the UK market with Apple's iPhones making up 32 per cent of total sales.
Over the next couple of years we expect Android's market share to fall with manufacturers keen to reduce their reliance on Google's platform. This year Blackberry 10, Ubuntu and Tizen will all be launching and they'll all be hoping to make a big impact.
While, Microsoft are in it for the long haul and we expect their Windows Phone platform to continue to grow in popularity. 3G hopes that the challengers are succesful because one dominant platform wouldn't be good news for consumers !
By Simon Thomas on 23rd January, 2013