Microsoft has experienced another smartphone market share decline, according to new data from research firm comScore.
Microsoft saw
its smartphone market share decline in the three-month period ending in June,
according to research firm comScore.
Specifically,
the company saw its share decline from 7.5 percent to 5.8 percent, over a
period when both archrivals Google and Apple experienced gains. Research In
Motion also dipped, from 27.1 percent to 23.4 percent.
ComScore also
listed the top mobile OEMs, in descending order, as Samsung, LG Electronics,
Motorola, Apple and RIM. Of those, Motorola and RIM experienced incremental
declines, while the rest enjoyed equally slight gains.
Microsoft's
market share included both its antiquated Windows Mobile platform and the newer
Windows Phone, which was supposed to reinvigorate the company's fortunes in the
smartphone space.
Instead,
Windows Phone is showing signs of anemic adoption by consumers and businesses.
According to data from Nielsen, Microsoft occupied some 9 percent of the U.S.
smartphone market in June-trailing Google Android with 39 percent, Apple's
iPhone with 28 percent and RIM with 20 percent.
During a July
11 keynote speech at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference, CEO Steve
Ballmer described Windows Phone's market share as "very small," but insisted
that other metrics (such as consumer satisfaction) boded well for the platform
overall.
"Nine out of
10 people who bought Windows Phone would absolutely recommend it to a friend,"
he said, reiterating a talking point voiced by many a Microsoft executive over
the past few months. "People in the phone business seem to believe in us."
Microsoft is
hoping that its upcoming "Mango" update, which supposedly includes some 500 new
tweaks and features, will help spur Windows Phone adoption. Mango reached its
Release to Manufacturing milestone July 26. The next day, one of the company's
hardware partners revealed its first smartphone running the software: Fujitsu
Toshiba Mobile Communications' IS12T, which will offer a 3.7-inch screen paired
to a 13.2-megapixel camera. It will arrive on Japanese store shelves by
September or later, according to an IDG video uploaded to
YouTube and posted on multiple news Websites, including PC
World.
Samsung, HTC,
LG Electronics and Nokia have all committed to building new Windows Phone
devices preloaded with Mango, along with Acer and ZTE.
In the
meantime, Microsoft has stayed reluctant to share any Windows Phone revenue
numbers. The Seattle
Post-Intelligencer recently dug into Microsoft's annual U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission report and hypothesized that, after tinkering with the
revenue numbers from the company's Entertainment and Devices Division, Windows
Phone earned less than $613 million since its release.
Considering
that Microsoft rolled out Windows Phone in late 2010, that $613 million (if
accurate) wouldn't be reflective of a full year of sales. Nonetheless, that
sort of revenue would be anemic, compared with those of Apple's iPhone over a
similar period or even the combined family of Google Android devices.
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Nicholas Kolakowski on Twitter
Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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