Windows Phone Gains 4 Percent Market Share In 2012

The U.S. smartphone market is now showing a 4% presence of Windows Phone, as per the data provided by Strategy Analytics.

Windows Phone Now At 4% U.S. Market Share

The U.S. smartphone market is dominated by Android and iOS, in that order. And in the middle of Symbian’s terminal decline and BlackBerry’s uncertain forecasts, Windows Phone seems to have finally registered a presence in the market with a 4% market share in the smartphone category. Of course, Windows Mobile, it’s obsolete ancestor, still has a little more left before disappearing completely but then this new data is seen by many as a rising trend instead of just the tiny little number that it is.

Strategy Analytics predicts this number for the current year, saying that the platform will climb steadily from its 3% share last year. This growth will be driven by the prominent players such as Nokia, HTC and Samsung. There are bound to be more brands coming in once Windows 8 hits but these three represent the best hope that Microsoft has in this case.

Strategy Analytics’ executive director Neil Mawston said that Microsoft is making a lot of effort to gain some footing in the US smartphone market. According to him, this is because it is a very influential market as well as being one of the largest ones in the world for smartphones. He went on to say that Microsoft still has a uphill battle to wage against the two kingpins in the segment — Android by Google and iOS by Apple.

He also expressed faith the upcoming Windows 8 platform that is all set to upgrade a lot of things by way of Windows Phone 8, ranging from security to usability, performance and apps.

According to the latest data from Nielsen, a whopping 51.8 percent of US smartphone users are using Android. This is followed by the iPhone running the iOS at 34.3 percent. BlackBerry is barely holding on at just 8.1 percent.