Windows Phone recovers the path of growth in Europe while losing the battle in the US and China

Kantar Worldpanel has re-published its report on the sales of mobile operating systems in the last three months and Windows Phone receives again a diversity of messages, encouraging on the one hand but worrying on the other. The Microsoft system maintains annual growth and recovers the path of growth in Europe, although it continues to have an increasingly low share in the large markets of the United States and China.

In the five main markets in Europe (Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain) taken together handset sales with Windows Phone represent 8.4% of the total number of smartphones sold between the months of February to April of this year.The figure is positive because it assumes an increase of almost 1.6 points compared to the same period last year and a slight improvement of 0.3 points compared to the numbers published by Kantar in April.

History also repeats itself country by country. In Spain Windows Phone grows annually in sales, from 1.7% last year to current 4.6% , and recovers growth compared to last month. The same is true in Germany, Great Britain and France. In Italy, on the other hand, although it grows compared to last year, it maintains a worrying rate of monthly decline that has led it to go from representing 17.1% of sales in the last quarter of 2013 to standing at 11.8%.

With these figures it can be said that the system maintains its growth in Europe, but with nuances The problem is that it has not yet recovered the position with which it ended last year, when it managed to get hold of more than 10% of smartphone sales in the old continent.The Redmond mobile system continues to foster its growth by picking up the share lost by BlackBerry and other systems, of which there will soon be little left. From then on it will be necessary to see how it performs against Android and iOS that continue without giving ground.

Where Windows Phone fails to boot is in the United States and China Microsoft has a serious problem in your country where your system represents less than 5% of smartphone sales and decreased compared to last year and the previous month. In the Asian country the situation is even worse, with barely 0.8% of sales and also on a downward trend.

Seen this way, the numbers do not look encouraging for Windows Phone: it fails to grow in key markets, and those in which it does grow slowly and inconsistently. But all these figures have to be put in a context that helps to relativize them. We are talking about a few months in which Nokia has been immersed in a process of acquisition by Microsoft that has affected the performance of its range of Lumia mobile phones.This obviously affects the figures for a platform in which the Finnish manufacturer was responsible for more than 90% of the market.

That being said, Microsoft has a huge job ahead of us and we'll have to see if their moves bring the system back to life Redmond's are about to About to inaugurate a new stage with Windows Phone 8.1, they have eliminated the licensing barrier, they have convinced more manufacturers to join their cause and now they will also be directly responsible for mobile sales with Windows Phone. The coming months are a new opportunity and this time may be the definitive one.

Via | Xataka Móvil > Kantar Worldpanel