Will Microsoft Surface smartphone be a threat to Nokia?

Microsoft has dominated the whole personal computer market for years with its Windows operating system while it has struggled in the mobile industry. Nokia was the undisputed leader in cell phones shipments, but has been less successful as the market has shifted to smartphones.

Although Windows Phone OS has existed in the market for quite a long time, people rarely choose WP phones. When they consider the quality and quantity of WP apps, they find the apps are nowhere near the quality of quantity of Android or iOS. As to Nokia, it has finally released smartphones that can compete with the leaders, but now has to play catchup and has had only marginal success so far.

Nokia’s phone operating system, Symbian, has been discontinued and is not longer a factor in the marketplace. Instead of producing an Android phone, Nokia joined with Microsoft to produce Windows Phones. However, when Nokia while Nokia has dedicated itself to Windows Phone and produced the Numia 920, Microsoft is now rumored to be about to launch its own Surface smartphone.

Compared to Android and iOS, Windows Phone has been unable to get a significant share of the smartphone marketplace. Before the release of the Lumia 920 last year, Apple’s iPhone and Android smartphones combined had 87% market share in the US while Windows Phone only took up a about 2%. 

By the first quarter in 2013, WP has taken up 5% proportion of global phone sales, which is far less than that of its competitors.

Will Microsoft Surface smartphone be a threat to Nokia? Many people think so. If MS releases its own Surface smartphone, most analysts believe it will be taking market share away from it’s own partner, Nokia.

However, we can also view it from another angle. Compared to Android and iOS, the Windows Phone market is still new and a strong leader can influence the direction it goes. Instead of a rival, Microsoft is more like a new member in WP camp, which is able to make WP market bigger and better together with Nokia and other WP manufacturers. and other WP manufacturers.