Some very interesting mobile phone statistics are just in, this time from market research firm Strategy Analytics. The same firm that confirmed back in February that Windows Phone has finally surpassed BlackBerry to become the third biggest mobile platform.
The latest numbers confirm more of the same — shipment of Windows Phone handsets recorded a remarkable increase in Q2 2013, while BlackBerry has to deal with even more misery.
Perhaps the most positive of changes is the increase in unit shipments of Windows Phone smartphones. The numbers for the second quarter of the year witnessed a rise from 5.6 million units in Q2 2012 to 8.9 million units.
Actual market share for Windows Phone, however, only went up a notch during the same period. Microsoft’s mobile platform now commands a 3.9 percent share in 2013, up from 3.6 percent in 2012, which makes it a bit of a mixed bag.
While most reports put Windows Phone handsets grabbing a noticeable slice of the smartphone pie across the world, they also have to contend and battle the myriad of Android devices, even those from smaller hardware vendors.
Still, the firm’s analyst Linda Sui believes that while Microsoft has made several noticeable gains in the smartphone market, Redmond should do a couple of things to become even more competitive against direct rivals, Google and Apple:
“First, the license fee charged to smartphone makers for WP8 must be more competitive to compete with Android in lower price-bands. And second, Microsoft must dramatically accelerate its support for advanced technologies, such as octo-core chipsets, because WP8 continues to lag behind Android in the premium smartphone category.”
Okay, not sure eight-core processors are an absolute necessity for Windows Phone (keeping in mind just how optimized the operating system that powers it is), but an acceleration in support for newer mobile technologies is nevertheless the need of the hour.
A bleak point of note for BlackBerry and its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones — Strategy Analytics does not even show devices from the Canadian company in its list. Instead BlackBerry market share data is included in the “Others” category.
This is certain confirmation that its numbers are below the third place Microsoft.
