Windows Phone is like religion – it gets people when they are down

BlackBerry users fleeing doom-ridden devices land at altar of Microsoft

Microsoft is mopping up sales from dazed and confused BlackBerry handset users found wandering across Blighty, according to claims from an industry number cruncher.

Some 570,000 Brits worshipped at the altar of Redmond (bought a Windows Phone) in Q1, up 32 per cent year-on-year – like religions, it is easier for tech vendors to ensnare people when they are down.

“Microsoft is attacking B2B users with decent-quality, low-cost handsets, and people are refreshing BlackBerry with Microsoft,” claimed Tim Coulling, senior analyst at Canalys.

Why? Familiarity with the app seller’s products at home and work, the bean counter told us.

A division of the shipments shows Microsoft grabbed 7.6 per cent of sales during the quarter, up from 5.8 per cent in the prior year quarter. The total market declined 1.5 per cent to 7.6 million.

“Microsoft is slowly building share without a flagship or high-spec handset - they are after the volume end of the [professional] market. This strategy will probably change when Windows 10 comes out,” Coulling said.

Despite this, Windows barely touches the sides of the sprawling UK shipments achieved by phone royalty Samsung and Apple, the combined sales of which came to 4.93 million units.

Sammy declined 8.5 per cent in Q1 to 2.54 million devices, giving it a 33.6 per cent share of spoils, as it continued to work through the inventory bottleneck that ruined profits in 2014.

The mid-range devices did the numbers for the chaebol, but the S6 was released very late in the quarter and as such didn’t feed into the numbers.

Apple sales recovered on the back of the iPhone 6’s release, growing 7.8 per cent to 2.43 million units, narrowing the gap that Samsung opened up a year ago.

The also-rans included Sony in fourth place behind Microsoft, as sales slipped to 470k from 500k in Q1 ’14 - the business is struggling to make money from its current position in the phone sector. Lenovo-owned Motorola dropped ten per cent to 420k units. ®