There is a tired old saying that goes something along the lines of “a stranger is a friend you’ve not yet met”. There are numerous variations, but the general gist is the same. Like many tired clichés, there is a vein of truth running through it and it can be applied to numerous situations. It would be understandable if Microsoft looked at its share of the mobile market and lost heart, but really it is not a cause — quite the opposite, in fact.
A new batch of figures published by CNET suggest that Windows Phone still finds itself trailing in third place behind Android and iOS. Google’s mobile operating system accounted for 53 percent of smartphone activations in the first quarter of 2014, while Apple managed to woo 42 percent of the market. It’s a slightly sorry tale — but one we have become used to — to find Windows Phone bringing up the rear, but this really needn’t be looked at negatively.
In many regards, it is quite positive… bear with me.
While this particular set of figures suggests that Windows Phone only has a one percent share of the market, it is generally shown to be somewhat higher, even if it is still low. But the glass-half-full way to look at the situation is that Windows Phone still has 99 percent of the market to expand into. Android can ‘only’ hope to grab itself up to 47 percent more — although of course we need to take into account the fact that the number of users is far from static.
The point is that Windows Phone has far greater potential to grow and expand than any of its rival (with the possible exception of BlackBerry, but few people would regard this as any form of competition). Windows Phone 8.1 is already going down a storm and the positive feeling that is currently being leveled at the OS is only going to gain momentum. Word will spread. More people will try out Windows Phone 8.1 out of curiosity, and more people will fall in love with it.
Of course, having a small market share should not be a long term goal, but for it to be the situation we find ourselves in is not necessarily a matter of doom and gloom. Onwards and upwards!
