Windows Phone – On the podium

Windows Phone is 3^rd but it’s very far to 2^nd.

• Windows phone has moved up into third place when it comes to smartphone usage but it is a very distant third and only just ahead of Blackberry.
• The latest data from Chitika shows that in the last three months, Windows Phone share of mobile internet usage in North America has held steady at 1.0%.
• 2nd place is Android at 44.5% with iOS still in first place at 53.1%.
• These findings are completely consistent with Radio Free Mobile’s ecosystem analysis.
• This has shown that Microsoft’s share of the mobile ecosystem has held steady at 2.9% for the last three months while Blackberry has declined from 1.9% to 1.4%.
• It is worth bearing in mind that RFM’s figures are global whereas Chitika’s analysis is for North America only.
• Windows Phone’s share in North America is below its global average and hence there is no meaningful conclusion to be drawn from the fact that its share of usage is way below its ecosystem share.
• Windows Phone has held share flat for the last few months as market share in units shipped has dipped due to the take-over by Microsoft as well as a period with no new device launches.
• Now that the acquisition is complete, new device launches should pick-up and I am hopeful that market share should begin to pick up from Q2 14E onwards.
• BlackBerry on the other hand looks set to continue its decline.
• Its user experience is unappealing to users meaning that it is really only the corporates who will be interested in the proposition.
• Upgrades from BES5 to BES10 seem to be going better than anticipated as I suspect that BlackBerry is pulling out all the stops to keep its customers.
• Hence, there may be a tiny niche for BlackBerry in the very security conscious part of the enterprise market like governments and financial institutions but whether this can translate into a sustainable business is unclear.
• I would still prefer not to take the risk and continue to prefer the fortunes of Microsoft to those of BlackBerry.