Windows Phone Reaches 9.2% Market Share in Major European Markets

Windows Phone has reached its highest ever sales share of 9.2% across the five major European Markets, reports Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. The company looked at the three months to August 2013 and found that Windows Phone hit double digit sales in France and Great Britain with 10.8% and 12% of the market, respectively. Notably, it's within 1% of Apple's market share in Germany.

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, says that although Android dominates with 70.1% of the market share across Europe, it's having a harder time finding growth.

“After years of increasing market share, Android has now reached a point where significant growth in developed markets is becoming harder to find. Android’s growth has been spearheaded by Samsung, but the manufacturer is now seeing its share of sales across the major European economies dip year on year as a sustained comeback from Sony, Nokia and LG begins to broaden the competitive landscape.”


Dominic attributes Windows Phone's growth to new Lumia models.

“Windows Phone’s latest wave of growth is being driven by Nokia’s expansion into the low and mid range market with the Lumia 520 and 620 handsets. These models are hitting the sweet spot with 16 to 24 year-olds and 35 to 49 year-olds, two key groups that look for a balance of price and functionality in their smartphone’.

Apple has continued to grow in the United States and now has 39.3% of sales. The launch of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will likely increase that number. In Japan, Apple and Android have 48.6% and 47.4% of sales, respectively. However, Apple is set to launch on Japan's largest carrier NTT DoCoMo which will likely push its sales ahead of Android.

BlackBerry now accounts for just 2.4% of sales in the top five European markets (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) and 1.8% of sales in the United States.


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