In other news, Nokia has surpassed Samsung and HTC as the number one manufacturer of phones – Windows Phones, that is. The mobile OS which trailed behind in the “others” category finally has a shot in the smartphone industry, all thanks to Nokia.
Market research company Strategy Analytics says that based on statistics, Nokia is currently the largest manufacturer of mobile devices running Windows Mobile OS. Samsung and HTC have been releasing Windows Phones for years but Nokia, the new kid on the block, managed to surpass both. Nokia now has a 33 percent market share of Windows Phones.
Finnish company Nokia remains the largest manufacturer of handsets in the world. The same isn’t true for the company’s smartphone category which has been holding on to dear life after letting the outdated Symbian OS stick around. I recall Nokia giving a statement about this, who said that Symbian OS was perfect for their smartphones. Back then, many of us thought Nokia was doomed.
Late last year, Windows Mobile OS was also struggling to gain traction. iOS and Android were leading, Blackberry has fallen to third place, and all other mobile platforms belonged to the “others” category. WebOS, one of those “other” OS platforms, was given the kill-switch a few weeks ago. Blackberry was continuing to fall behind and so was Windows Mobile.
When Nokia and Microsoft signed up for a partnership after news of their losses, the tech world had mixed reactions. Some thought both companies were doomed, others thought they had a shot at the smartphone industry. And there were also those that wondered why Nokia never gave Android a chance to debut on their devices.
It’s been a few weeks since the largest handset manufacturer launched Lumia 710, the first Nokia phone to run the Windows Mobile platform. And yet Nokia has managed to overtake HTC and Samsung in sales of Windows Phones. Based on how things are going, Nokia and Windows Mobile might overtake Blackberry and its native OS in the near future. But can they catch up to Android and Apple?
