New data shows that Nokia (NYSE:
NOK
) dominates the worldwide Windows Phone segment with a 59 percent
share of the market. According to
The Next Web
, HTC leads the United States market with a 36 percent share.
This achievement is no small feat. Nokia's nearest competitor is
Samsung, the same company that utilized the Android brand to sell
more than 50 million smartphones
in the second quarter, beating Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
) by more than 20 million units. Samsung is expected to support
Windows Phone 8 with at least two
significant devices
, though nothing official has been announced.
Samsung currently holds 13 percent of the global Windows Phone
market, trailing both Nokia and HTC (which holds 21 percent of the
market). In the United States, Samsung's 26 percent market share
fell behind Nokia and HTC, but by a much smaller margin. Nokia
currently rests in second place with 32 percent of the domestic
market.
Unlike Samsung, which manufactures Android phones that are
heavily promoted by Sprint (NYSE:
S
), Verizon (NYSE:
VZ
), and AT&T (NYSE:
T
), Nokia has had a difficult time earning the support of domestic
carriers. This is especially true of AT&T, which recently
stopped promoting
Nokia devices at many of its retail outlets.
The promotional struggle comes at a time when Nokia is expected
to announce several new devices for Microsoft's (NASDAQ:
MSFT
) upcoming mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8. If Nokia fails
to earn the support of domestic carriers, it may have a difficult
time holding on to its share of the market.
This is less-than-worrisome for Nokia's competitors, most of
which rely on Android to compete against the iPhone. Android is
viewed as the
leading alternative
to Apple's mobile operating system, iOS. Samsung recently used its
onslaught of Android devices to
cut into Apple's profits
.
Nokia, on the other hand, has thrown its support behind Windows
Phone -- a platform that has yet to make waves in the smartphone
market. Last week, Nokia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop
announced that the company will
continue to back the platform
.
Earlier this month, Nokia that it no longer needed, including
the cross-platform application framework "Qt" that the company
acquired in 2008. The company also announced a with Zynga (NASDAQ:
ZNGA
) to bring the company's games to the Asha Touch.
On August 2, Groupon (NASDAQ:
GRPN
) announced that it will add to Nokia's Maps application.
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