A growing volume of smartphone users have been attracted to the Window mobile platform in the recent past. Data strongly corroborate the growing influence of Windows in a market heavily dominated by the two giants Android and iOS that together occupy more than 93% of mobile ecosystems in US.
Industry analysts have welcomed the on-going market penetration of Windows for the below reasons.
- Complete monopoly of the two mobile platform behemoths can be reduced
- As the number of players increase, the competition too increases proportionately
- Consumers also get more options to choose from rather than being exposed to just variants
The success that drives Windows 8
Until recently Blackberry was touted as the third alternative that might come up strongly against Android and iOS. However, dipping user loyalty and decrease in market shares from 5.3% last year to 0.7% this year has made it challenging for those at Research In Motion.
They have been striving very hard to increase the market share and also introduced a new line of Blackberry 10 OS in January 2013. However, sales numbers point to a consistent freefall ever since. Much of the market is eaten into by the Windows ecosystem which saw a staggering 47% growth.
On the other hand Windows has been gaining rapid grounds with the hugely successful tie-up with Nokia in form of the Lumia series of smartphones that have found quick and loyal acceptance from a significant number of smartphone users who found it preferable to switch from feature phones to the new Windows Nokia Lumia range of phones. This factor has been reason enough to propel Windows 8 as a third viable alternative to consumers other than Android and iOS.
Reasons for success of Windows 8
Consumers and mobile experts who reviewed the phone have listed out quite a few outstanding features that helped it to grab the smartphone users’ attentions and thus increase their market penetration:
1. Microsoft Office integration
Those who have used the Office mobile on their Windows phone swear by the enhanced user experience provided by the Microsoft suite of applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook). These features were either not present completely in the other mobile platforms or present only in limited flavors.
However, Office on Windows is a simply a pleasure to work on with many user-friendly features available exclusively to this ecosystem. For instance in Microsoft Word Mobile, one can easily host documents on the cloud using SharePoint Server 2010 or mail your WORD file directly from within the application.
2. New user interface
The new tile-based arrangement of programs and applications has found widespread acceptance and users all over the world have found this feature to be exciting.
They have found innovative ways to manage their tasks, organize information, multimedia applications and programs which seems to be a departure from the usual Android and iOS flavor of UI available on their mobile platforms. Of course, this is provided you go past the initial learning curve for getting your head round this useful and amazing feature.
3. Microsoft LIVE integration
Other applications of Microsoft such as Xbox have gained remarkable integration into the windows Mobile platform. This helps users who are hooked n their Xbox game console to easily switch to Windows Mobile without losing any of their collections or achievements.
One can also retain their Xbox character or avatar and be kept up-to-date about their friends’ scores and collections over time. This integration is expected to touch various other Microsoft supported applications (think Skype for example) and give a much consistent and enriching experience to users in the near future.
4. Advertising
Windows has a huge advantage over stock Android phones when it comes to in-app advertising and advertisement pop-ups. If you are in the app market place, there won’t be annoying ads that propagate their apps.
Rather it will be a clean listing of featured apps that are free or paid. Even when you are accessing apps or playing games, the constant annoyance of ill-timed advertisement pop-ups is pleasantly missing on Windows Mobile.
As evident, Windows Phone has definitely picked up in growth and is mobilizing user attention and market share at a rapid pace, much to the peril of iOS and Android.
