Microsoft Windows Phone to dethrone struggling Blackberry as UK's third biggest mobile by 2015
Microsoft’s Windows Phone is rising through the ranks and will soon replace struggling Blackberry as the UK’s third most popular smartphone brand, according to a report from eMarketer.
Touch-screen Microsoft phones will overtake Blackberry
Blackberry demand has slumped worldwide and as a result UK users will decline by over a third by the end of the year. Additionally, the BBM messaging service was released on the Windows Store earlier this month.
Blackberry has 2.4 million UK users, this will drop to 1.5 million in 2015. In contrast, UK Windows Phone users are projected to grow to 3.5 million users by next year.
The report found that Google-owned Android handsets dominate the UK market with iOS making up another third, however, Windows is predicted to have a nine per cent market share by 2015.
Bill Fisher, UK analyst at eMarketer, said: “The demise of BlackBerry has long been documented but these numbers highlight just how far it has fallen from grace.
“Android and iOS are clearly dominant, but while Microsoft is making significant effort to grow its presence - buying Nokia's mobile phone unit and recently partnering with HTC to offer a Windows-based version of the flagship HTC One M8 - BlackBerry appears to have been treading water.”
The study also projected that by 2018, 70 per cent of the UK population will have a smartphone.
This comes after Microsoft at the start of the year acquired Nokia's phone business for $7.1bn.