Windows Phone 8 Gaining Ground In Europe, Leaving BlackBerry Far Behind

With Microsoft and Nokia aggressively pushing the Windows Phone 8 OS out to the market the latest data, from Kantar World Panel, suggests that this is seeing Windows Phone 8 gain some significant ground in the mobile market. In Europe the Windows Phone 8 operating system rose to 8.2% market share across UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Additionally, it is revealed that the Windows Phone 8 OS is the number two OS in Mexico with 11.6% of market sales.

The drive behind the growth of Windows Phone 8? Well it is thanks to Nokia’s budget handsets like the Lumia 520 that are helping out. In fact Nokia’s Lumia 520 now accounts for 1 in 10 of every smartphone sold in the UK. The research report states that very little of Windows Phone 8’s growth comes from “stealing market share” from Android or iOS smartphone users. Apparently the success of Windows Phone 8 has been to people upgrading from relatively dated handsets, or for first time smartphone buyers.

“Windows Phone’s success has been in convincing first time smartphone buyers to choose one of its devices with 42% of sales over the past year coming from existing featurephone owners. This is a much higher proportion than Android and iOS. The Lumia 520 is hitting a sweet spot, offering the price and quality that new smartphone buyers are looking for.” Said Dominic Sunnebo insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTec.

Interesting Windows Phone 8’s gain seems to be BlackBerry’s loss as they account for just 2.4% market share in UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Image courtesy of Nokia