The International Business Times have posted some stats on the performance of Windows Phone in India, and it appears the OS is doing quite well there.
The analyst company revealed 3.8 million Windows Phones have been sold over the last 2 years (2013-2014) in the region, with 1.26 million being sold alone in the second half of 2014. This itself is a 34% growth over the H1 2014 and double H1 2013.
This number gives Windows Phone around 3% of the 45 million strong smartphone market in H2 2014, with roughly double the number of Windows Phones than iPhones sold in the region.
“Windows phone sales have been increasing steadily in India in the past two years, especially as Microsoft started to expand its lower-priced range with really good devices,” Jessica Kwee, an analyst at research firm Canalys in Singapore, said.
Devices priced below $200 accounted for more than half of the Windows Phones shipped to India in the last quarter of 2014, Canalys estimates.
That still leaves Windows Phone and Microsoft well out of the top 5 in the region. In the last quarter of 2014, the top five smartphone vendors in India were Samsung (22 percent), Micromax (18 percent), Intex (8 percent), Lava (7 percent) and Xiaomi (4 percent), according to research firm IDC.
The Windows Phone OS does however have a significant appeal in India, where the Microsoft brand is still very popular.
“Microsoft is the only company now offering the capability of having the same app experience across devices, with the same office experience on the phone, too,” Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst covering mobile devices and ecosystems at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said in an email. Counterpoint estimates that Windows OS had close to 4 percent share in India in the last quarter of 2014.
“I estimate a strong traction of these devices in emerging geographies, including India, due to aggressive pricing,” he added. “It’s already going strong in some parts of Europe, like Italy.”
The Lumia 535 has been doing well in the region and the new Lumia 640 and 640 XL should do even better, offering even better specs and value for money at a low price.
Canalys’s Kwee expects the new Lumia 640 phones will be marketed to more experienced smartphone users, including those who were using the first Lumia 5x or 6x series models (e.g., the Lumia 520 or even older), looking to upgrade their phone.
Do our Indian readers expect Microsoft’s new Windows Phones to do well? Let us know below.