It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. No, we are not talking about Charles Dickens’ timeless classic, but the Windows Phone odyssey, with all its ups and downs.
Close to four years, and the platform only has somewhere around 4% of the market to its name.
In between these were many a misstep, some dazed strategies, and necessary changes — with Windows Phone 8.1, the mobile operating system is now on equal footing with competitors, at least in terms of hardware. While at the same time, steady progress is being made on the software front.
So where do things stand?
Microsoft COO Kevin Turner took to the stage at WPC 2014 earlier today and shared some new details regarding the momentum of Windows Phone around the world.
The platform remains the fastest growing smartphone operating system with an impressive 91% year-on-year growth, which essentially means that its market share has doubled since WPC 2013.
It is now the number 2 smartphone operating system in 14 markets, while outselling the iPhone in 24 countries around the world. All this has resulted in a double digit market share for Windows Phone in a solid 8 markets — a figure that is very likely to grow in the coming months.
As for Windows Phone, there are now more than 270,000 apps in the repository, with around 500 being added every day. Some four billion apps have been downloaded by Windows Phone users up until now.
Equally impressive is the fact that monthly revenue from paid apps has increased by 440%.
A lot of work still remains, but at least things seem to be going in the right direction, more or less. What we really need now is more devices from partners. Good thing, then that we are getting just that.
source:eyeonwindows
