TheTelegraph: Windows Phone and iOS surge as Android (and BlackBerry) shrinks in Europe

TheTelegraph reports on KantarWorldPanel’s findings that Windows Phone seems to be making more gains in Europe. In the “big 5” WP thanks to Nokia’s dedication hits 8.2%, “emerging as a key player in the smartphone race”.

Constant, steady growth is always welcome to see. Windows Phone’s growth apparently comes mainly from convincing first time buyers to make that switch. Kudos then to Nokia for seeing the need to push the 520/620/720 (and now 625) to bring affordable high end experiences to the public, whilst at the same time working to the current limitations of MS’s timetable regarding the specifications Nokia can push on WP Lumias.

The Lumia 520 is apparently hitting the sweet spot. Nokia’s bread and butter was feature phones, reaching heights of over 100m in one quarter alone. But that market is collapsing in favour of smartphones. With featurephones as the new battleground, Nokia needs to capture these first time buyers and retain them with the user experience and ecosystem that WP provides. It’s nice to hear that the news of the Lumia 520 doing well in the markets is being reflected in some way by these numbers.

http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/Record-share-for-Windows-phone

BlackBerry is now only 2.4% of the big 5 in Europe and 1.2% in US. From the previous month of June 2013,

• Germany 5.9% to 8.8%
• GB: 8.6% to 9.2%
• France: 9% to 11%
• Italy: 7.8% to 7.8%
• Spain: 1.4% to 1.8%
• Australia: 5.3% to 7.0%
• Mexico: 7% to 12.5%
• EU5: 6.9% to 8.2%
• USA: 4% to 3.5%
• China: 4.9% to 2.4%

When was Windows 4.6% of China in 2012? Perhaps inclusion of WM? I always remembered it barely scraping just 1% in China.

Cheers Matthijs for the tip!

Category: Lumia, Nokia