Windows Phone can hardly be called the hottest operating system at the moment, but with changes introduced in Windows Phone 8.1 and with Microsoft officially acquiring Nokia’s cellphone division, the future might have gotten brighter for the platform. That being said, Kantar Worldpanel has recently released their report for the past 3 months ending in March 2014, and according to their figures, Windows Phone is not looking particularly hot in Europe.
According to their report, Windows Phone in Europe has been experiencing a decline over the past few months. Back in February 2014, its share was down to 9.7% and in March, it dropped further to 8.1%. Kantar attributes the decline to the possibility that there might be cheaper Android alternatives. At the same time, it is possible that users were holding out for Nokia’s newer handsets, like the Lumia 630 and the Lumia 930.
However while Windows Phone might not be doing so hot in Europe, over in Australia the platform has seen an increase in market share and is at 6.9% in March 2014, versus the 5% in February 2014. Hopefully this number will increase in the next few months. In the US the numbers remain unchanged which is a good/bad thing depending on how you look at it. Interestingly in Japan, the Windows Phone platform has seen a slight increase from 0.3% in February to 0.9% in March.
Japan has never really been hot for Windows Phone but this slight increase could be worth checking out by Microsoft. Overall it seems that there are some markets that Windows Phone is doing well in, but at the same time there are markets in which Windows Phone is starting to lose out. Will Microsoft’s latest update to Windows Phone and their acquisition of Nokia be able to help? We guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
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