Nokia’s domination of Q4 Windows Phone sales laid bare

Just two weeks ago we brought you figures that showed Nokia as controlling some 45% of second generation Windows Phone handset unit sales. New data out today confirms that early number, estimating that in the fourth quarter Nokia soaked up 48% of the WP7 market.

Given how close the two figures are, we are comfortable in saying that Nokia is in fact dominating the Windows Phone market. In style, we might add, as its Lumia line of phones are certainly lookers. Now, for some more numbers. According to Canalys, the source of this data, some 2.5 million Windows Phone handsets were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2011. Collated by WMPowerUser, this is where the total pool of Windows Phone handsets sits:

In total Canalys estimates 6.8 million Windows Phones were shipped in 2011, a pretty low number. With 2.85 million handsets shipped at launch in Q4 2010, that bring a total of around 9.65 million handsets shipped so far.

That gives Windows Phone under 2% of the larger smartphone market. This certainly backs up Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s comment that Windows Phone has taken the company from ‘small, to small’ in regards to mobile market share. Still, with the Nokia line turning heads, it could be that Windows Phone is set to grow slowly and steadily over the coming year.

For now, we remain as skeptical as ever, but the first hint in a changing of the winds is always hard to detect.