Windows Phone can’t be called successful by any metric, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft’s mobile operating system doesn’t have its moments. In fact, Windows Phone is actually managing to grow at a faster rate than Android in some of Europe’s most important economies, something that has been attributed to Microsoft’s commitment to low-end devices.
Windows Phone has had a pretty difficult year, from lack of flagship devices to lower commitment from Microsoft to very strong competition from Android and iOS. But despite these hurdles the mobile OS managed to outpace the growth of Android in major European economies. Looking at the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel, we can see that Microsoft’s strategy of focusing on the low-end of the market had indeed started to pay off in terms of sales. Windows Phone managed to outpace the rate of growth of Android, which actually lost market share almost across the board. The sales data on which this report is based, represents figures for the first quarter of this year and compares that to the same period from last year. The biggest gain for Microsoft came in France, where its mobile operating system gained almost 6% market share and now accounts for 14% of smartphones sold in the country.
