Windows Phone shipments surpassed BlackBerry last quarter

[Dave LeClair]

When people think of smartphones, iOS and Android are the first operating systems that generally come to mind. The two have a stranglehold on the market, but there are still smaller battles occurring on the lower end of the sales spectrum between Windows Phone, Blackberry, Linux, and Symbian. 

According to a report from IDC, a big shift has occurred during the first quarter of 2013. Windows Phone actually managed to overtake Blackberry to become the third most popular mobile operating system. It accounted for 3.2 percent of all smartphone shipments, while Blackberry made up 2.9 percent.

Of the Windows Phones sold, an estimated 79 percent of them were Nokia models. Since Nokia started creating Windows Phones, it has shipped 20.3 million units of them. Of course, other companies sell devices based on Microsot's mobile OS, but in most cases, they are secondary to their Android devices.

Blackberry released BB10 recently, so the data does not necessarily reflect how well it will do once it catches on. What's more, the Z10 was only released in March in the US, which does not give it much time to contribute to the sales figures. Still, releasing a new OS should have caused a surge in sales, so it seems at least a little concerning that BlackBerry was overtaken in the same quarter it released a huge upgrade.

Android and iOS still hold the number one and two spots in terms of smartphones sales. Android held 75 percent of the market share and iOS had 17.3 percent. Clearly, in spite of the shift in sales of the less popular operating systems, it's still a two horse race, with Android in control of the market overall. 

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https://www.techspot.com/news/52609-windows-phone-shipments-surpassed-blackberry-last-quarter.html

 

[RH00D]

It's interesting to see the data breakdown because I live in Canada and I definitely see a lot more BB devices than WP even though I own a Lumia 800 myself. Maybe it's just cause BB phones are easy to spot at a glance.

I don't really understand why a lot of people get worked up over market shares of companies. I don't think it really matters either...

As long as the company is 1) generating healthy revenue, 2) generating healthy profit, 3) satisfying its user base, then it's market share to its competitors shouldn't be a big deal.

It reminds me of Steve Jobs' stance on Mac desktops vs Windows desktops. He (at least publicly) didn't care that Macs had a small portion of the market because the division was still generating good revenue, profit, and growth regardless.

I guess it just boils down to the old "my stick's bigger than yours" mentality.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Good progress.

 

[gamoniac]

It's interesting to see the data breakdown because I live in Canada and I definitely see a lot more BB devices than WP even though I own a Lumia 800 myself. Maybe it's just cause BB phones are easy to spot at a glance.

I don't really understand why a lot of people get worked up over market shares of companies. I don't think it really matters either...

As long as the company is 1) generating healthy revenue, 2) generating healthy profit, 3) satisfying its user base, then it's market share to its competitors shouldn't be a big deal.

It reminds me of Steve Jobs' stance on Mac desktops vs Windows desktops. He (at least publicly) didn't care that Macs had a small portion of the market because the division was still generating good revenue, profit, and growth regardless.

I guess it just boils down to the old "my stick's bigger than yours" mentality.

There is some truth in that, but Apple is an exceptional case; their target audience is different. Companies who holds larger market share attracts more application developers and can easily dominate many aspects of the industry (material costs, contracts, exclusivity, etc). Even the iPhone has slipped down to 17% market share. That is unimaginable just 18 months ago.

 

[Chazz]

It's interesting to see the data breakdown because I live in Canada and I definitely see a lot more BB devices than WP even though I own a Lumia 800 myself. Maybe it's just cause BB phones are easy to spot at a glance.

I don't really understand why a lot of people get worked up over market shares of companies. I don't think it really matters either...

As long as the company is 1) generating healthy revenue, 2) generating healthy profit, 3) satisfying its user base, then it's market share to its competitors shouldn't be a big deal.

It reminds me of Steve Jobs' stance on Mac desktops vs Windows desktops. He (at least publicly) didn't care that Macs had a small portion of the market because the division was still generating good revenue, profit, and growth regardless.

I guess it just boils down to the old "my stick's bigger than yours" mentality.

It's a wall street thing that tech bloggers caught onto. It's more of a popularity contest. It doesn't matter if Microsoft brings in the bank quarter after quarter. If the investors aren't "excited" then it doesn't matter. Marketshare or incredible gains in marketshare is what excites them. Because they can better guess what the future of the company will be like.

Microsofts stock has been stagnate for years. But I'm quite sure in the last few years they've been making the most money(profits or otherwise). I think Apple(or IBM) would be the only ones close to them or ahead of them in the tech field. That doesn't matter though.