As Windows Phone OS begins to gain momentum worldwide, Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Nokia looks like a canny move. Today, much of the Windows Phone environment is dominated by handsets released by the Finland-based company. While Android still dominates the global smartphone market, the Windows Phone OS is gaining fast.
In the United Kingdom, Windows Phone is the only major mobile platform that increases its market share. Google has 58.4 percent share in the UK, followed by Apple’s iOS at 27 percent. Although both are facing some amount of decline, they are still dominating the local market. In the meantime, Microsoft Windows has soared to 11.4 percent in Q3 2013, compared to 4.2 percent during the same quarter last year.
In the rest of European market only shows similar trend. One in ten smartphones sold across five large markets in Europe (Spain, Italy, France, Germany and UK) are based on Windows Phone OS.
The growth of Windows Phone OS in the global market stems partially from the budget Nokia devices, which were known for their historical popularity. In some regions, there’s less race among consumers to update their devices to latest, more expensive smartphones. But users who do plan to upgrade would find that budget Lumia models are more logical choice.
