WP7 overtakes Symbian in Great Britain

Nokia'S Wp7 Handsets Have Outsold Its Symbian Devices In Gb

Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft has begun to bear fruit as sales of its devices running on the WP7 platform have outstripped Nokia’s Symbian handsets in Great Britain.

The Lumia 800 handset accounted for 87 per cent of WP7 sales in the market, according to latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, while Germany remains the strongest market for WP7, with market share for the OS now up to 3.1 per cent.

There are strong signs that WP7 Nokia handsets are starting to make an impact on the European smartphone market, though US sales, where the Nokia brand is weaker, remain underwhelming.  “The fact that WP7 sales have overtaken Symbian based on one handset is encouraging; however, Nokia will need to expand the range quickly in order to keep up with the slew of next generation competitor products being launched in quarter two,” said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director.

Android remains the number one smartphone OS in Britain, with its share up to 48.5 per cent from 37.8 per cent a year ago.  However, Apple has increased its share of the British smartphone market from 22.7 per cent a year ago to 28.7 per cent.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech also said that its research reveals that consumers are increasingly satisfied with their handsets. When asked how satisfied consumers were with their smartphone (on a scale of 1-10) the average smartphone score was 7.9; notably higher than those with a non-smartphone at 6.9.

Apple has the most satisfied customers with a score of 8.8, with Samsung in second place at 8.0 and HTC in third with 7.6. In Great Britain smartphones made up 73.2 per cent of sales over the 12 weeks, meaning that 51.3 per cent of the British population now owns a smartphone.