A recent survey has revealed that 2012 will see smartphone sales increasing to 123mln from 102mln the previous year and an estimate shows that 4% of the market share will be lapped up by the Windows Phone that is currently running primarily on Nokia devices and a few other smartphones. This shows that the Windows Phone is beginning to gain some ground but it is far from being a threat to Android or iOS anytime soon.
Research and analysis showed that the number of Windows Phone smartphones will go up to 5mln, up from 3.5mln during 2011 which will increase its market share to 4% against 3% in the previous year. While Nokia has the largest Microsoft Windows Phone lineup, they are available with Samsung and HTC as well and the three will jointly be looking to boost sales of the Windows Phone, of course each one marketing its own devices over the others’. While this is a good step forward for Windows Phone, it is not as good as it should be considering that the smartphone sales is projected to increase by 21% over 2011.
The news may not be looking good for Microsoft in the US but it is quite better when the entire world is taken into perspective. Windows Phone is expected to take up 5.2% of the global smartphone market in 2012 and this figure is projected to go as high as 19.2% in 2016. However, Microsoft, which only just made the announcement regarding the release of Windows 8, has quite a long way to go to reach the level at which Android phones are being sold at. By 2016, Android is likely to take more than half of the smartphone market.
Nokia, the largest player with the Windows Phone is trying its best to boost sales. It has recently slashed the price of the Lumia 900, its flagship phone by 50% in an attempt to boost sales but the results may not look favorable. The main reason is that Nokia phones will not receive Windows 8 upgrades so the only hope the company has is to wait till the launch of the next generation of phones. Windows Phone 8 is expected to provide seamless integration opportunities that are quite possibly going to influence its sales in the positive direction once it is released.
