Microsoft’s Windows Phones are outselling iPhones in the Chinese and Russian markets. Though Windows Phone was only launched in China 2 months ago it has surged to 7 per cent market share compared to 6 per cent for iOS... Meanwhile in Russia figures from their largest mobile operator MTS have been released that paint a similar picture to the Chinese results. In the Russian results Windows Phone accounted for 8.2 per cent of sales compared to 7.3 per cent for iOS devices.
The figures for China are sourced from an interview with Michel van der Bel, COO Greater China Region at Microsoft. It's not clear exactly what is being measured, but is most likely to be percentage share of sales of smartphones in April. This would coincide with launch period for Windows Phone in China and it is unlikely April's sales level would be maintained throughout Q2 2012. As such the claim that Windows Phone as overtaken iOS may be inaccurate. A full assement will have to wait until independent figures are available. Nonetheless the figures do suggest that there is significant initial momentum for Windows Phone in China.
The figures for Russia come from the sales figure, for Q1 2012, of the country's largest operator, MTS. Windows Phone was in fourth place behind Symbian (37.8%), Android (35.1%), and Bada (11.3%).
Both sets of figures are a useful reminder that the marketshare of smartphone sales vary greatly from country to country.
It has always been acknowledged that Microsoft's plans for Windows Phone would take some time to implement and see success, so it's encouraging to see that the 'third' platform is making inroads in these two territories.
