Windows Phone maintains modest rise in Australia

Microsoft has seen gains in smartphone sales in Australia while Blackberry has enjoyed a minor local revival.

Microsoft's Windows Phone OS has increased to 5 percent of the Australian smartphone share in the three months to February 2014, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. The result reflects a 1.5 point rise, up from 3.5 percent from the same period in 2013.

Microsoft has continued to push its newly acquired Nokia handset arm with the Lumia line of budget devices in Australia and other international markets. Locally, the recent launch of the phablet sized budget handset Lumia 1320 maybe a cause for the sales boost, along with the Lumia 625 and the new high-end 1520 phablet.

BlackBerry's market share has continued drop in almost every region. However, Australia and Germany offered relief for the Canadian handset manufacturer. Australia returned 0.3 point rise, with 0.7 percent in this most recent quarter up from 0.4 percent in February 2013.

Neither Windows Phone nor BlackBerry can hold a candle to the dominance of Android and iOS, which comfortably hold first and second positions. Google's Android OS makes up a majority 58.5 percent market OS share, a drop of 0.3 points from February 2013.

Android sales may increase in the months to come following this month's releases of the new HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Apple's iOS saw a minor decline in local sales from 34.8 percent to 33.9 percent. Kantar said its figures exclude enterprise sales.