This article was published on March 30, 2011

Analysts: Windows Phone 7 to grab 2nd spot by 2015


Analysts: Windows Phone 7 to grab 2nd spot by 2015

Ambitious? Market research company IDC predicts that by 2015, Windows Phone 7 will be the number two smartphone operating system worldwide thanks to Microsoft’s newly-formed partnership with Nokia.

“Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences”, said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. “The new alliance brings together Nokia’s hardware capabilities and Windows Phone’s differentiated platform.

With Microsoft’s cash and software, and Nokia’s still massive handset market share, both of the companies are praying for a rebound — but as Venture Beat points out:

“For IDC’s prediction to come true, nearly everyone currently using Nokia’s Symbian smartphones will have to make the switch to Windows smartphones.”

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has confirmed that the Finnish mobile giant is already working on developing its first Windows Phone 7-powered smartphones, but those models won’t be on sale until the first quarter of 2012.

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It wouldn’t be a walk in the park for Microsoft as new Android phones are being adopted even by emerging nations and the iPhone 5 and iOS 5 expected to come out later this year. As skeptical as we are about the figures, Microsoft has been actively partnering with several handset manufacturers aside from Nokia to carry the Windows Phone 7 OS, and plans on releasing major Windows Phone 7 updates in the near future, which may bode well for the company.

The report predicts that Google’s Android operating system will grab the top spot this year, and will continue to hold on to it until 2015 with 45.4 percent of the market share. The iPhone’s market share is expected to be at 15.7 percent at the end of this year and will stay around roughly the same figure until 2015.

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