Windows Phone is still making steady progress in Europe, according to latest data published by Kantar Worldpanel. The platform has leaped to grab 8.2 percent of sales across Europe in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for progress in the US, but there's still progress and Microsoft is growing its share of the market in terms of device sales.
With the 8.2 percent in mind across five European markets in the three months to July this year, Windows Phone was at 4.9 percent the same time in 2012. iOS accounted for 17.9 percent of sales, up from 14.8 percent and Android reached for the 69.1 percent ledge, climbing from 66.2 percent. BlackBerry remains on its downhill slide, falling from 6.7 percent last year to just 2.4 percent.
Kantar Worldpanel - July 2013 Windows Phone Share by country
- Germany: 8.8% (+2.6% YoY)
- GB: 9.2% (+5% YoY)
- France: 11% (+7.4% YoY)
- Italy: 7.8% (-0.5% YoY)
- Spain: 1.8% (+0.1% YoY)
- USA: 3.5% (+0.5% YoY)
- China: 2.4% (-2.2% YoY)
- Australia: 7.4% (+2.4% YoY)
- Mexico: 12.5% (+10.5% YoY)
The biggest and most impressive individual gains were seen in Mexico (12.5%) and France (11%) where double digit Windows Phone sales figures were finally reached.
As we've covered before, a large portion of the numbers for Windows Phone come from feature phone owners who are looking to upgrade to smartphones and aren't interested in paying out premiums or investing in affordable handsets with performance issues. This is where the Lumia 520 comes in, going for less than 100 euros in multiple markets. AdDuplex previously noted in reports how the Windows Phone is taking off.
Source: Kantar Worldpanel, July 2013
Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar, had the following to comment on the report:
"Windows Phone's success has been in convincing first time smartphone buyers to choose one of its devices with 42 percent of sales over the past year coming from existing featurephone owners. This is a much higher proportion than Android and iOS. The Lumia 520 is hitting a sweet spot, offering the price and quality that new smartphone buyers are looking for."
It's certainly a demographic Nokia has been looking to tap into since the company joined forces with Microsoft back in 2011.
Not the same story everywhere
While Microsoft and co. are slowly climbing up in Europe and beyond, it's the US where progress remains slow but steady. The platform has snapped up 3.5 percent of sales, up just 0.5 points from last year. This is despite multiple mobile operators taking hardware and promoting them with "hero status."
The Lumia 1020 launched in late July though those numbers were not included here. Regardless, it's the more affordable Windows Phones like the Lumia 520 and Lumia 521 that pique the interest from consumers. Indeed, the Lumia 520 (AT&T GoPhone) was not counted in these numbers as well due to it launching at the end of July.
According to Kantar's data, Apple increased its share to 43.4 percent of sales in the three months with a growth of 7.8 percentage points. In contrast, Android fell from 58.7 percent to 51.1 percent of US sales. Another bleak story is for BlackBerry, who fell from 1.9 percent to 1.2 percent year on year. China, much like the US, is a difficult market for Windows Phone to establish itself, which fell from 4.6 percent last year to 2.4.
In conclusion, while Windows Phone still struggles a bit in the hyper competitive US market, it has shown explosive growth in numerous countries, including Mexico, France and Great Britain. With a range or price points and various carriers deals locked in, Nokia appears to be dominating the show right now for Windows Phone as a platform, a story which we expect to continue for the rest of 2013.
