back to article Microsoft claims Windows Phone sales up 300%

Speaking at the company's annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer waxed enthusiastic about Windows Phone 8, claiming sales were off to "a great start." Without citing any exact numbers, Ballmer said Redmond is selling four times as many Windows Phone devices than at this time last year. In …

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      1. Bob Vistakin
        Megaphone

        Well, brace yourself then - that 5%, even if true, is as good as it gets. Android is currently on 75% and all the big Android players have timed the run up to Christmas to perfection. Apple has just fumbled everything it's possible to fumble, and at the worst possible time for them. Their relative share is falling as it is. With the astonishing quality and price of the Nexus 4, plus the Nexus 7 price cuts if we're speaking generally of Android, what do you think the market share will be after the Christmas sales figures are in? 80% is certain, 85% - 90% not beyond the realms of possibility. So who's left? Not microsoft - they can't give them away. Blackberry claim to have something by next spring.

        Game over - the rest can scrap over what Android would consider floor noise.

        1. dogged
          FAIL

          Bob thinks this is a game and he has chosen Android as his Team.

          If Android (or iOS or RIM or WP) wins, we all lose.

          1. Bob Vistakin
            Happy

            @dogged knows he is out of arguments so reverts to ad hominem attacks.

            1. dogged

              I didn't see an attack. And if any mobile OS "wins", we all lose.

              So why do people attack the ones that they don't personally buy? It's kind of tribal for what amounts to long-term self-harming.

        2. RyokuMas
          Mushroom

          Did someone fart? I think I just heard some elusive wind...

          1. Bob Vistakin
            Alert

            Crikey, that's me rumbled.

        3. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

          Bob,

          How's that time machine working for you? I'm assuming that's the only explanation for your certain knowledge of the future.

          Apple won't be crying into their beers any time soon. Even having dropped the ball they've still got a very comfortable market share, and the lion's share of the profits from the whole market. No-one else but Samsung makes much profit at all on phones. I suspect Apple may be on the downward curve, with recent missteps and cracks appearing in their media love-in, but that might just mean a small drop in sales, and a touch less profit.

          As for Android, Google make no more money out of being market leader than Microsoft do from Win Phone. The difference is that MS might make a profit sooner than Google. Would be interesting to see what happened if Google tried to charge.

          Samsung are the key. If Google fail to keep them sweet, they may abandon ship and fork Android, or go another route. Bada, write something new, make the Moblin/Meego/Maemo thing work, or even Win Phone. Can't see that happening soon, but anything can happen. Symbian collapsed incredibly quickly. This is not a stable market. Many Android users only use free Apps, so there's no penalty for moving. Apple have much better lock-in, with bigger App sales.

          Interesting times ahead for many years I suspect.

        4. The_Regulator
          Windows

          Fanboi Alerts

          My fanboi sensor went into overload as soon as I read this article, figures that the android ones would be out in droves especially on this site. BTW Lumia 920 is without doubt the best phone on the market right now in terms of hardware. Software is still catching up and it is going to take time but I want for nothing right now on my 920.

          The interesting thing I noted in the article was the decline in growth of the MS App Market. What I do not see mentioned in this article though is the fact that MS did not release the developer SDK for WP8 until right before the launch of the platform and in turn no mention of the thought that developers did not want to release new apps right before the launch of WP8 when they could not test compatibility because the SDK only works on Windows 8...I would think that the releases over the 6 months following the release of WP8 would be much more indicative of the truth vs the 5 or 6 months prior to the release but hey you journalists obviously know a lot more than I do, either that or your just a lot better at the smoke and mirrors game catering to your fanboi audience.

          Keep hating haters it's what you do.

          1. Bob Vistakin
            Trollface

            Re: Fanboi Alerts

            Hurrr hurrr hurr

            Me wanna be cooool hurr hur hur

            Me want best phone on market hurrrr

            Me want big toy bright yellow one with no apps that I don't need to rely on for making calls hurr hurr

      2. peredur

        Hmm. Nice link

        The link to PCPro is to an article entitled, "Apple and Google extend mobile lead". In other words, MS is picking up waifs and strays from Symbian and RIM - but at a lesser rate that Google and Apple. Not something that I'd be proud of, particularly, if I had responsibility for Windows phone sales.

        MS is picking up a larger and larger proportion of a rapidly shrinking pie - the bit of the market left after Apple and Google's share.

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

          Re: Hmm. Nice link

          The link to PCPro is to an article entitled, "Apple and Google extend mobile lead". In other words, MS is picking up waifs and strays from Symbian and RIM - but at a lesser rate that Google and Apple.

          peredur,

          Without more information, it's impossible to say. It may be that MS are simply stealing share from other losers - in a battle of the losers. It may be however that cheap £50-£100 Android phones are what's killing Blackberry and Symbian, and MS are stealing from Android in the mid-market.

          Do Blackberry even have a phone at the £450-£500 price bracket? If not, those Win Phone sales (of the Lumia 900 and now 920 could be stealing from Apple or Android. Or, in a growing market, may all be new sales, it depends on the proportion of handsets that are selling - you can't know without a better breakdown of the figures.

          I'm not saying that Win Phone is the best or that it's going to take over the market. I'm simply saying it's not dead yet. It's growing at the rate you'd expect if it was going to do really well, but equally that growth may stall at any time. I'm simply pointing out a little bit of common sense to the howling masses of the intertubes. If Win Phone goes down in flames, they can cheer happily.

          Me, I like a bit of healthy competition, I don't particularly trust Google, I think £500 is a ridiculous price for a phone (why do you think Apple and Samsung make such huge profits?), and I don't like tiny plastic keyboards. So I like my Lumia 710, my next handset will be a mid-price Android or Win Phone 8, in a year's time. Unless Apple come out with something sensibly priced.

  1. mark l 2 Silver badge

    I expect the most people buying a Windows 8 phone are buying a Nokia, not because its running Windows but because they like Nokias, the Windows 8 store my have 1000000 apps but how many of them are actually being bought and bringing money in for the developers?

    1. RyokuMas
      Unhappy

      Very true, unfortunately - I've got five games up there now, no returns of any real significance. That said, how many on other platforms are actually being "bought"?

      Of course, if another platform could produce an SDK with entry barriers as low as the XNA framework (and didn't require my having to replace all my computer hardware or shell out hundreds for licence fees), I'd certainly consider it. Especially now it looks like I've got to start all over again with C++/DirectX.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Didnt know this site was loaded with Fandroids

    Looks like most of the peeps here love the cheap plastic being offered on their GS3's and droids, hardware aside the software which is nothing less than a spyware. Most of the commenter may have never used a WP device. I have used and own Android and iOS devices but have them sidelined after getting my hands on a Lumia.

    920 being sold out the world over is because of the below and not your dumb ass comments above its because consumers are smart enough to realize it is the best darn smartphone available at the moment.

    The best camera on a Smartphone

    The best Display for a Smartphone

    The best looking Smartphone

    Only phone with Wireless Charging

    Windows Phone 8 which is currently the best mobile OS available with a nicely knit ecosystem.

    Brought to you by the pioneer in mobile telephony.

    1. Richard Plinston

      Re: Didnt know this site was loaded with Fandroids

      > The best camera on a Smartphone

      Did you not hear of the 808 ? While the 920 may use the name it has no other connection to that. Other phones have much better cameras, such as http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/29/android-phone-lumix-camera-panasonics-lumix-phone-101p-for-japan/

      > The best Display for a Smartphone

      Opinion

      > The best looking Smartphone

      Canary yellow plastic. I think not.

      > Only phone with Wireless Charging

      Palm Pre (from years ago), Galaxy 4.

      """The Nexus 4 has the circuitry to be charged by any Qi charging device. Google also has a charging orb available for sale.

      But that’s not the only smartphone platform with Qi that’s come along in the last few weeks. Both HTC and Nokia have equipped their Windows Phone 8 handsets with Qi charging. If you pick up the HTC Windows Phone 8x on Verizon, then Qi will be part of the handset."""

      > Windows Phone 8 which is currently the best mobile OS available with a nicely knit ecosystem.

      It is knitted into a net to keep you in the walled garden.

      > Brought to you by the pioneer in mobile telephony.

      If you want the actual pioneers:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones

      1. dogged
        Meh

        Re: Didnt know this site was loaded with Fandroids

        Most of this is legit but Richard is well aware that canary yellow "plastic" - polycarbonate shell if you're not being a twat - is not the only option.

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