Ahead of a major new move with Nokia, Microsoft’s mobile platform is not heading in the direction it wants to be.
According to the latest Nielsen report, Windows Phone now accounts for just 6% of the smartphone market. In the previous quarter, that number was 9%.
It’s unfortunate for Microsoft, which expected that the announcement of new Nokia phones and the launch of the new Mango software would help spur sales.
Then again, it could be that consumers are waiting for the new Nokia handsets to be available. That seems like an unlikely scenario and probably would not explain the 33% drop in market share.
Nokia and Microsoft are officially tying the knot right now, as the first Windows Phone-powered Nokia handset is already making its way to customers overseas. They should be hitting US store shelves early next year.
As for Nokia, it was software that put a death knell on the company, with Android and iOS making Nokia’s proprietary Symbian platform seem completely irrelevant.
Windows Phone is poised to bring a huge jolt to both Microsoft and Nokia, especially in the US mobile market where there is nowhere to go but up for both companies.
It should be very interesting to watch and see how the Nokia partnership plays out. Some analysts have depicted very positive outcomes while others are ambivalent. We’ll see what happens.
