Blackberry is Still Ahead of Microsoft

When talking about Delphi XE5’s support for Android and iOS, someone usually asks if we plan to support Windows Phone, but never asks (that I’ve heard) if we plan to support Blackberry. In the news we keep hearing how Blackberry is struggling and losing market share, while Microsoft is fighting to gain market share. Interestingly Blackberry is still ahead of Microsoft.

 

Looking at ComScore’s latest numbers we see Blackberry has 4.3% while Microsoft has 3.0%. Both are still in decline over the long haul. So even if Microsoft captured Blackberry’s 4.3% and Symbian’s 0.3% they would still only be at 7.6% compared to Android’s 51.8% and Apple’s 40.4%.

Microsoft has a way to go before they become a serious contender, and any other smartphone OS will be fighting an uphill battle to gain a foothold. With Microsoft’s deep pockets they could ride out a much longer storm than any upstart in this space, so I expect they are the only one who could turn up as an actual 3rd alternative.