Stephen Elop has eye on 10% market share, Blackberry’s 80 million users

In an interview with the Guardian Nokia CEO Stephen Elop revealed his short term ambition for Windows Phone, like ours, is to hit double digit market share, and that he would do this by going after Blackberry’s 80 million (in fact now 76 million) subscribers.

"When we think about the milestones along this journey we are very focused on first getting to a double-digit market share, talking about Windows Phone collectively," he said.

"This is an interesting time to reconsider what’s the next generation, and of course we’re looking at that as a real opportunity. It’s a moment, it’s a point of disruption."

Blackberry is at a particularly vulnerable point. With their next generation phone now in the market, but priced out of the reach of most of their customers, there is a very good chance Blackberry’s usage could see a further collapse.

"Virtually any [head of IT] out there today is probably thinking pretty hard about the investments they’ve made in a competing platform for business mobility," says Elop.

Stephen Elop did not expand on how long he thought it would take to reach more than 10% market share.

"It is about showing progress, strengthening the brand, improving the financials. It’s hard to predict what rate over what time."

Elop also insisted that with enough hard work even the Apple and Samsung duopoly could be broken. He questioned for example whether a handset like the Samsung Galaxy S 4, which is overloaded with features, was unassailable.

"It’s not a technology war, it’s about how we can make your life a little easier, a little faster, a little more creative. Engineering is more than just the number of megapixels."