Even without any major launches in April in the US, Windows has managed to keep its market share stable this quarter. According to the latest Kantar Worldpanel report which tracks the mobile phone behavior of customers, Microsoft’s Windows Phone has captured 5.6% of US smartphone market sales.
Windows Phone Market Share upward climb
Although Android stands first with 51.7 percent of the smartphone sales, Microsoft has secured the third position with 5.6%, up by 1.8% as seen earlier. This is up from 3.8% of market share Microsoft had at this same time last year. Apple occupies 2nd spot with 41.4 percent, up by 2.3 percentage points.
Windows has begun to capture consumers from across the competitor set. Of those who purchased a Windows device in the last year, 42% came from a featurephone device, 25% from another Windows device and 23% from Android. While iOS is similarly effective at capturing Android users and their own users, only 31% came from a featurephone device, showcasing Windows strength in attracting featurephone users, revealed the report.
Also, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech analyst Mary-Ann Parlato states,
Verizon and Sprint’s slight increase is thanks to the growth of two key players. For Verizon, Windows’ share rose from 0.2% in the three months ending April 2012 to 6.8% by the period ending April 2013. At Sprint, they continued to reap share increases thanks to their iOS offering- iOS sales share on Sprint grew from 33.4% to 38.4% over the last year.
For Windows Phone OS, Nokia’s Lumia handsets were the main market share drivers. BlackBerry does not find a mention anywhere in the report. It’s sad to see the Canadian giant dying.