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It's a downhill slide from here.

If Windows Phone's peak was 9%, some months ago, and now it has dropped to 7.8%, then it is clearly a shrinking platform.

Anyone who buys a Windows Phone runs the risk of having the platform discontinued, like what happened to the Kin phones. Kin users were left with useless bricks after Microsoft discontinued all the online services.

That's not Windows Phone, that's Microsoft. It just shows that Windows Mobile is falling faster than Windows Phone.

Zune...who??

This is combined windows phone 7 and windows mobile. It's not too encouraging but Microsoft hasn't really marketed the phone yet, they only spent some of the money waiting for the update to arrive. Windows phone 7 is an excellent OS and will succeed. It's the most fluid OS right now hands down. @LenZek, you must be kidding, Microsoft are fully commited for WP7, why is there an alternative for them? I expect the trend to start reversing once microsoft puts some markiting money now the update is finisged, expect a completely different picture when Nokia joins. Do you remember Android was at 4% at the end of 2009? Things can change quickly.

This is combined windows phone 7 and windows mobile. It's not too encouraging but Microsoft hasn't really marketed the phone yet, they only spent some of the money waiting for the update to arrive. Windows phone 7 is an excellent OS and will succeed. It's the most fluid OS right now hands down. @LenZek, you must be kidding, Microsoft are fully commited for WP7, why is there an alternative for them? I expect the trend to start reversing once microsoft puts some markiting money now the update is finisged, expect a completely different picture when Nokia joins. Do you remember Android was at 4% at the end of 2009? Things can change quickly.

Chris Nerney, please read the report you quoted once more.

It says that Microsoft's combined smart phone share (including OS's prior to WP7) declined, not WP7. And by doing a tiny bit of math, we can easily deduce that the majority of Microsoft phones out there in November weren't WP7. If Microsoft had 9% mobile share in November, when according to that article there were over 60 million phones, then that would mean they had over 5 million phones in people's hands. PC World has already reported that Microsoft hadn't sold anywhere near 5 million WP7 phones through to customers at that point in time.

So what are we really talking about here? We're talking about a decline in percentage of a set of older Microsoft phones that are no longer being sold as we went through the Christmas holidays and people purchased new phones.

What these numbers don't tell us anything about is how well WP7 is doing relative to where it was in November. For all we know, WP7 could have been sitting at 0.3% in November and has now grown to 0.4%.

It would in fact be immensely impressive if WP7 had really managed to attain 9% of the total smart phone market after just a couple of weeks back in November. That would have terrified both Apple and Google. In reality, however, WP7 is probably much closer to 1%, and odds are that it's probably still slowly increasing that share (unless you believe that less than 1 in 100 phones sold are WP7).

Anytime you get more then two operating systems on a platform. The third one will get ignored. You have Windows and Apple OS X on Computers. Linux get's ignored. You have Apple's IOS4 and Google's Android and Windows Mobile get's ignored. You cannot have three dominant players in a platform. People like choice but they don't like a crowd.

jscott418, on 04 April 2011 - 04:57 PM, said:

It's true that it's difficult for many to survive - the market tends towards favoring one above all others. But the video game industry is one OS market where you have 3 players each with a large share - Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony (in that order).

One of the major obstacles to the success of Microsoft Windows 7 phones and operating system is the fact that Microsoft set rigorous uniform standards(functionalities and features) for handset manufacturers who develop the phones .As a result the handset manufacturers have had little capacity to develop innovative designs and functionalities for the Microsoft Windows 7 phone. This obviously limits the market and consumer appeal of these phones.
In contrast, Google gave phone manufacturers who make phones based on the Android operating system sufficient latitude to experiment with design, features, and functionalities. As a result, Android powered phones seem to have massive consumer appeal because phone manufacturers (HTC, Samsung, and Motorola) are able to deliver phones based on the market and consumer dynamics.
In my opinion as CEO www.elnegy.com another reason that Microsoft Windows 7 has failed to gain sufficient traction is because phone manufacturers who license the operating system have to pay a licensing fee. This has obviously discouraged some of those companies.Nokia's wholehearted embrace of Windows 7 mobile operating system appeared to discount the lukewarm reception the operating system received in the market place. The editorial team at www.elnegy.com suggests that Nokia's embrace of Microsoft Windows 7 in spite of the lukewarm reception in the market was based on the fact that the combination with Microsoft would create a symbiotic relationship between the two companies.
In contrast, however, Google’s Android operating system is free and so many phone manufacturers are embracing it.
Another major reason Microsoft Windows 7 mobile operating system is still lagging behind Apple, RIM,Google is that fact that the number of Applications in its ecosystem is less than 20,000 .In contrast the Apple iPhone has over 250,000 apps;Google's Android has about 200,000 apps.Evidently the more the Apps in the ecosystem of mobile operating system the more it attracts consumer interest. The slow development of Applications and the limited number of those Apps has made Microsoft Windows 7 phone and operating system a less attractive option for consumers.
In addition, when Windows 7 phone was launched in the last quarter of 2010 Microsoft promised to support the new product with a $500 million dollars advertising campaign. This is a significant budget especially given the fact that some of Microsoft's rivals like Google do not spend that much on Advertising.
However, the facts show that much of the communication support for Android does not come from Google but from phone manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, and Samsung. In addition, telecommunication companies like Verizon (USA) also helped engineer the massive adoption of Android due to the massive campaigns and promotions that they launched to promote the Google Android powered Motorola Droid phone.
Microsoft Windows 7 has not enjoyed a comparative high level of support from phone manufacturers or telecommunication companies apart from modest attempt from AT&T. This has limited the awareness and adoption of the brand.
In addition, Microsoft Windows 7 phones and operating system is being affected by the fact that at launch it was up against one of the immutable laws of Marketing. This law is the law of first. This immutable law of Marketing says that is the first product in the minds of the consumers tend to remain at the top of the mind of consumers. As result the dominance of Apple iPhone, Google’s Android and RIM (Blackberry) is partly attributable to the fact that they were in the market (first) before Microsoft Windows 7 phone and operating system and as a result, they dominate the minds of the consumers.
It seems however; that Microsoft Windows 7 operating system could get a new lease of life because of the strategic partnership with Nokia. The strategic partnership with Nokia would help Microsoft windows 7 gain a foothold in many of the markets outside of the United States and Canada.
Finally, Microsoft needs to collaborate more with phone manufacturers and telecommunication companies on promotion and communication campaigns for Windows 7.This would help to improve market penetration and grow the market share of the brand.

whatever you say, WP7 is the best mobile OS. it's very unique and more apps are coming! Just wait and see