Kantar Worldpanel, a consumer research firm, in its latest report has revealed that Windows phone sales in the last three months were recorded to be the highest ever, with average 9.2% sales in five of Europe’s key smartphone market including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Great Britain.
This is for the first time that the Windows Phone platform has reached a double digit market share of over 10 percent with 10.8 percent in France and 12 percent in Britain, which is a remarkable 7 percent year-over-year increase.
Nokia is considered to be the primary driving force behind the upsurge in Windows Phone market share. Dominic Sunnebo, Kantar strategic insight director, is of the opinion that “Nokia’s expansion into the low and mid-range market with the Lumia 520 and 620 handsets” has led to uptick in Windows Phone sales and market share.
“These models are hitting the sweet spot with 16 to 24 year-olds and 35 to 49 year-olds, two key groups that look for a balance of price and functionality in their smartphone”, said Sunnebo.
Googles’ Android still dominates the European smartphone market with a 70.1 percent market share as compared to last year’s 68.8 percent. With a 16.1 percent share, Apple’s iOS is the second biggest platform. The report says that the iOS and Windows phone growth might threaten Android’s dominant position in the future.
Considering that the market for Android has more or less matured for Android in developed countries, Google may find it harder to sell more Android smartphones in year to come.
