Sales of Windows phones pick up major momentum in Q3

There may yet be life in Microsoft’s Windows mobile phones, research released on Tuesday indicated.

Windows phone sales grew by 156 per cent in the third quarter, according to the latest cellphone market study by research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). But the 9.5 million Windows phones shipped during three-month period represented only 3.6 per cent of the market, IDC said. That is however up from 2 per cent last year.

The data compiled by IDC also showed that Android phones notched up a significant milestones.

Phones powered by the Google operating system accounted for 81 per cent of the smartphone market, with Samsung leading the charge at some 40 per cent of Android shipments.

Apple was the second-largest smartphone seller with a market shared of 12.9 per cent. That’s down from 14.4 per cent during the same period last year, but IDC attributed that to “soft demand in the weeks leading up to the launch of iOS 7 smartphones.” IDC said Android and Windows phones continued to make significant strides in the third quarter.

“Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success: price,” Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s mobile phone team, said in a statement. “Both platforms have a selection of devices available at prices low enough to be affordable to the mass market, and it is the mass market that is driving the entire market forward.”

BlackBerry continued its downward spiral, landing at a 1.7 per cent share for the quarter, down from 4.5 per cent last year, according to IDC.

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