Windows Phone is still struggling to stick its nose into the U.S. smartphone market’s two-horse race but it appears to be making strides across the pond, nearly doubling its share in some key markets.
New numbers from Kantar found Microsoft’s mobile operating system gaining a lot of traction in Great Britain, Germany and France. As of August, Windows Phone controlled 12 percent of the UK market, nearly three times the 4.5 percent it held a year ago. Similarly big annual gains for Windows Phone came in France, up to 10.8 percent from 5.6, and Germany, up to 8.8 percent from 3.8.
Despite the gains in those key markets, Windows Phone share in Italy declined to 9.5 percent from the 10.3 percent it enjoyed in 2012. And in Spain, Windows Phone made virtually no advance at all.
Comscore’s market share numbers for the U.S. paint a much different picture for Microsoft’s OS, with the latest numbers showing Windows Phone holding steady with 3 percent of the market while Apple and Google continue to hog more than 92 percent of the pie for themselves.
