According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (SA), global Microsoft smartphone shipments grew 36% to reach 2.7 million units during Q4 of 2011. It does not come as a surprise that Nokia captured top position as the world’s number one Microsoft smartphone vendor for the first time ever.

Alex Spektor, associate director at SA, said that although Windows Phone OS smartphone shipments remain very marginal, compared to the figures of Apple and Android vendors, these are showing tentative signs of growth.

Nokia overtook HTC and others to become the world’s largest Microsoft smartphone vendor with 33% market share. Spektor stated that Nokia’s global Microsoft smartphone shipments hit 0.9 million units, as distribution of its Lumia family expanded across numerous countries and operators.

Nokia’s gain is HTC’s loss

Tom Kang, director at SA explained that Nokia’s Microsoft smartphone growth during this previous quarter was achieved partly by capturing market share from HTC. Kang said that this is a challenging development for Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker, since it is also losing ground to Samsung in the Android segment. HTC is now at risk of being caught in a pincer movement between two giants of Samsung in Android and Nokia in Microsoft, and according to Kang the company must move quickly to address this issue.

“An expanded portfolio of Windows Phone 7 models such as the Lumia 800, an increased retail presence and highly visible marketing campaigns across several European and Asian countries drove Nokia’s growth,” added Neil Mawston, executive director at SA. “Nokia is by no means out of the woods yet, and it is still on a long road to recovery, but capturing top spot in the Microsoft smartphone ecosystem is an encouraging baby-step forward for the company.”

 

In related news Microsoft recently revealed the winner of its local Windows Phone Application Development competition, with South African developer Justin Southey’s The Most Addicting Sheep Game claiming top honours.