Growth in use of Windows Phone and Windows 8/8.1 stagnates
The normal thing in the life cycle of an operating system is that, after launch, it begins a phase of constant growth, until it reaches a peak or maturity, and once there it begins to decline in pursuit of newer and more advanced products. Both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 should be in the midst of that growth phase now, That is why the latest market share figures for June are disconcerting, which show a stagnation in the growth of both operating systems
According to comScore figures, Windows Phone market share in the US in June was unchanged from the previous month, holding at 3.4%.Meanwhile, NetMarketShare informs us that the usage share of Windows 8 and 8.1 would have dropped from 12.6% to 12.5% during the same month.
Regarding Windows Phone, it could be argued that comScore's number is not really representative because it does not include other markets such as Europe and Latin America, where the operating system has performed better. However, when reviewing the NetMarketShare data globally we find that Windows Phone share dropped from 2.1% to 2.0% between May and JuneThese data do not imply that there are fewer Windows Phone users, but rather that the universe of mobiles and tablets may be growing at a faster rate than the user base of Microsoft's OS, but in any case, they are not good figures .
One possible reason for this stagnation is the less frequency with which new Lumia devices have been released, especially in the mid-range (what last to be launched in that range are the Lumia 720 and 820, almost 2 years ago), and how long it has taken the Lumia 930, the last flagship phone, to reach other markets outside the United States. For its part, the boost in sales that the Lumia 520 meant at the time has slowed down, and the Lumia 630 seems not to be up to the specifications to become a new low-cost super-seller. Microsoft's hopes here are then in the success of the new Lumia that they are preparing for this year.
Regarding Windows 8, take into account the counterpoint of the Steam data, which shows an increase in the share of Windows 8 within the subset of Steam users. Specifically, users with Windows 8 within Steam increased by 0.44% during June, to reach 25.11%, more than double what they represent globally.In other words, Windows 8 is having a better reception among gamers than among the general public
And among all this mess, Windows 7 continues to grow and reach new usage records In fact, it has been growing for 4 months in a row (passing from 47.3% in February to 50.55% in June), something that almost coincides with the end of support for Windows XP. It seems that the companies and users who were left behind with XP are preferring to simply stay with Windows 7 for now, rather than upgrade to Windows 8. Perhaps Windows 9 and the new features aimed at desktop users will break this trend in the future.
Via | WPcentral, ZDnet, comScore
