The journey of the Windows Phone platform and state of the ecosystem

Vserv.mobi, the global mobile advertising exchange, has shared an interesting infographic that puts together the milestones and elements of the journey of Windows Phone platform across the globe. The company has been helping Windows Phone developers monetize across emerging markets and the number of requests on the exchange, especially for the Windows platform, grew by 18.2X last year.
Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 in the fall of 2010 after Windows Mobile 6.5, the last iteration of Windows Mobile platform, failed to generate interest against the revolutionary iPhone and the newfangled Android smartphones.

After the initial struggle to convince customers as well as OEMs, the platform got the big impetus after the partnership with Nokia in 2011. The following year, the Nokia Lumia series launched and the platform matured to Windows Phone 7.5, getting positive reviews all around.
2013 worked out well for Windows Phone, emerging as the 3rd mobile ecosystem as BlackBerry plummeted. Analysts expect the operating system to cross 100 million devices this year as it outsells iPhone in 24 markets like India. The platform is expected to grow at a staggering 29.5% CAGR between now and 2018.

One of the key factors to the growth of Windows Phone has been the preference for the Windows Phone Store by developers. The platform has seen incremental preference among mobile platforms from the developers and major development studios and services are including Windows Phone apps in their initial roll out plan.

The Windows Phone Store has seen over 4.1 billion app downloads with over one-tenth of these being the paid ones. Of over 250,000 apps in the Windows Phone Store, ‘Entertainment’ category leads with 17% apps, while ‘Tools + Productivity’ and ‘Games; stand at 14%.

The platform is witnessing a far greater show of strength by the number of downloads it has seen and 20% of developers are planning to adopt the platform as part of their strategy. Also, As the Windows Phone adoption grows, brands who’ve been elusive to mobile advertising are looking at tapping this opportunity.