The latest quarterly smartphone market share update from the research firm Kantar WorldPanel is a mixed bag for Microsoft and Windows Phone, with some territories showing large increases while others recording losses of market share.
Kantar's report, based on three months of data that ended in July 2014, show that Windows Phone's market share went up in Great Britain from 7.1 percent to 9.9 percent compared to the same period a year ago and that its share went way up in Italy, from 7.9 percent all the way to 13 percent. Spain also recorded an increase for Windows Phone, from just 1.6 percent to 4.8 percent.
On the other hand, Windows Phone recorded decreases in Germany, from 8.1 percent to 6.1 percent, along with France which went down from 11 percent to 8.7 percent. Overall, the top five European markets went up for Windows Phone, from 7.6 percent to 8.5 percent.
Kantar said that the US had a slight increase in the last three months compared to a year ago, from 3.8 percent to 3.9 percent. In Mexico, there was a large decrease in market share, from 9.5 percent to 5.9 percent. Australia saw a decrease from 6.7 to 5.7 percent. Perhaps most troubling is Kantar's numbers for China. Windows Phone already had a low 2.3 percent market share for the three month time period in 2013 but 2014's numbers show that the OS went down to just 0.8 percent.
With Microsoft launching a number of new Windows Phone devices in the near future, along with other OEMs such as HTC offering new devices, it will be interesting to see what the market share numbers will be like for the next three months.
Source: Kantar Worldpanel
