If you see a Smartphone it's Probably Android

If you are walking around somewhere and you see someone typing or talking on their smartphone, chances are that smartphone has an Android operating system. Sure there are places where Apple and there iOS are dominant, there are also places where people use mostly Windows Phone, but world wide Android is still the most used operating system on smartphones.

According to Strategy Analytics last year in the world there were 1.7 billion smartphones sold and Android is on 81.3 percent of those devices. Apple operating system iOS takes up 13.4 percent of the market, which is still a great number considering they were making only one smartphone a year, and now two smartphones with their so called budget iPhone 5c. Windows Phone has doubled it's market share in one year and is now on 4.1 percent world wide, still a very low number, but it is expected to increase in 2014.

In the last quarter smartphone sales were up by 45 percent to a total number of 251 million units sold word wide. Not strange considering smartphone sales are always at their best during the holiday season. In 2014 it is expected that the smartphone market will increase by 5 percent.

Source strategy analytics.

Sony and Windows Phone

Sony has been rumored to bring a Windows Phone device from the very start of the WP release. So far we have seen some prototypes but never a smartphone with the WP operating system was released from Sony. Well it looks like the year 2014 just might be the year when Sony will deliver a Windows Phone smartphone.

In the last few years Sony has been making great smartphones for Android, but they still don't have great sales results compared to Samsung, the company that's dominating the Android market. So the Windows Phone option just might be the new thing that Sony is looking for. Even Sony Mobile Europe chief Pierre Perron said that they don't want to be a company with just one OS.

“We don’t want to be a single OS manufacturer, I don’t think it’s a viable position in the long term,” Perron said.

Microsoft wants more of the big companies to get involved in the Windws Phone ecosystem, and even they bought Nokia and are planing to develop there own hardware they still want other companies to use their operating system. In recent talks with Samsung and HTC, Microsoft has offered them a free Windows Phone on all smartphones that they produce. This is an attempt to compete with Android, will just have to wait and see if this strategy will bring better results.

Source techradar.

Microsoft Treshold Update in 2015

Microsoft is expected to bring Windows Phone Blue update early this year. This update should be the beginning of cross-platform unification that is coming in 2015. According to the recent rumors Microsoft is working on Treshold update that will unify Windows, Windows Phone, Windows RT and Xbox UI.

This will not be a single operating system that is going to be running on all the devices, this will be a number of shared UI elements across the different platforms. Treshold update could bring us a unified app store which is for now just wishful thinking, considering how many different app stores Microsoft has over different operating systems. IT giant from Redmond is hopping that Treshold update will make it easier for you to work and have fun using Windows.

One of the first unification process should be the merge of WindowsPhone and Windows RT. Microsoft isn' happy hawing so many different operating systems for so many devices so this could be the first big unification.

The year 2014 is very important for Microsoft, because the company is currently in transformation. They also want to build hardware not just software like it's been the case for all these years. Recent purchase of Nokia is a step in that direction. So this should be a very important year for Microsoft.

Source ZDNET.

Smartwatch from Microsoft

The year 2014 is shaping up to be the year of wearable technology and there is a huge interest in smartwatches. Microsoft is becoming more and more a company that is developing hardwer. They already have game consoles, tablets and now with the acquisition of Nokia they will have smartphones. Samrtwach seems to be the next logical step. Tech giant from Redmond was late in both smartphone and tablet race, one mistake they don't want to repeat with the smartwatch.

As far as rumors go smartwatch is already being develop at the company and the man in charge of this project is Alex Kipman the "father of Kinect". Allegedly his team is working on 1.5 inch smartwatch that is running Windows. Which version of Windows is still not known. Will it run WindowsPhone or maybe some new version of Windows. Microsoft already has many OS version of Windows so a new smartwach operating system seems unlikely. Probably it will have some version of WindowsPhone.

No release dates for this smartwatch have been announced and with the competition already developing these type of devices Pebble, Samsung, Sony and according to rumors Apple later this year. Microsoft will have to work fast on this one.

More on the story right here.

Nokia Dominates Windows Phone

Reports say that Nokia is dominating Windows Phone market. Well this wasn't really hard to guess, since they are the only company that is making only WP smartphones and have no interest in Android market. The other companies that are manufacturing WP smatphones are HTC, Samsung and Huawei. All three of these companies are more interested in Android. Samsung is currently dominating in Android market.

Just in case you forgotten Microsoft has recently bought Nokia, well not the entire company but their smartphone and tablet division. So the Lumia line of smartphones now belongs to Microsoft. It's still not known will they create a new line of WP smartphone or will they simply put the Microsoft logo on the Lumia smartphones. Surface smartphones have been rumored for some time but nothing has been officially confirmed.

As far as the stats go, Nokia is currently holding 90% of Windows Phone market. HTC is at 7%, Samsung at 1.8% and Huawei at 1.3%. Worldwide WP platform is at only 4%, but it has shown steady growth in last months, and in some markets like EU it's in double digits.

As for the smartphones the most popular in WP category are budget phones like Lumia 520. Flagship smarphones haven't had much success against competition from iOS or Android, but in budget smartphones WP is making an impact. This is mainly credited to the operating system, because on limited specifications WP is much faster and more responsive then the competition from Android.

More on the story right here

Microsoft Wants Windows on HTC Android Phones

We all know HTC is having some serious financial troubles and looks like Microsoft has a proposition for them. Basicly they want to take advantage of their financial troubles. Microsoft WindowsPhone operating system is doing very well at the market and HTC sales of smartphones are not going very well either. Solution, let's team up for better results.

Microsoft wants HTC to put their WP platform on Android devices. If HTC agrees to this they would be speared from paying the licence on WindowsPhone OS. That means they would get WP on their devices for free. HTC already has WP smartphone lineup but their focus is on Android devices. Flagship phone HTC ONE is running Android.

HTC has recently reported their financial results and they have their first annual loss since the company has been founded. The loss is over $100 million. This putts the company in very bad position, so some sort of deal between Microsoft and HTC is very likely to happen. At this point it looks like they don't have any better alternatives. These negotiations have just started so it's very hard to say what the final deal will be like. One thing is sure HTC is running out of time so they definitely need to change something and fast.

Microsoft OS on smartphones WP is currently on only 4% devices worldwide and you can be sure that the giant from Redmond isn't going to be happy with that. Sure, they have bought Nokia so they can start making their own smartphones but they also want other companies to make WP devices.

More on the story right here.

Microsoft Windows Phone in Double Digits

Microsoft can be proud to announce that WindowsPhone is in double digits. Well at least in some markets.  Worldwide WP is somewhere around 4%. Europa seams to like combination of Nokia Lumia and WP. On two big EU markets Microsoft OS is over 10%. In Great Britain it has 12% market share, France 10,8%, Italy 9,5% and Germany 8,8%. So in those two countries it's just shy of double digits.

These results are mostly credited to Nokia Lumia smartphones, and not so much to the flagship phones but rather to the mid-range Lumia phones. Which are not that expensive and offer a quality product from Nokia and a fast WP operating system. HTC and Samsung have there WP lineup but their sales results are not very good.

Across Europa Android is still the supreme ruler of the market with 70%. Second OS is iOS with 16% and then WP with 9%. BlackBerry is completely out of the game and it's market share keeps dropping. Also in Australia WP almost double it's market share form 3,7% to 6,5%. However in US it's only at 3% and in China even worse with 2%.

Keep in mind WP is the youngest operating system on the market, it's not even 3 years old. While iOS is 7 years old and Android just turned 5 years old. So we can expect more from Microsoft OS in the future as WindowsPhone matures.