It was a little over a year ago that Microsoft introduced Windows Phone and WP7 handsets hit retail shelves. The platform has been slow to gain ground against Android and iOS, but the latest stats from Facebook suggest things may be turning around.
Wmpoweruser closely watched the number of Windows Phone users on Facebook and noticed the user base recently skyrocketed. The number is easy to glean thanks to Window Phone’s tight integration with the social network. The blog’s calculations suggest that 600,000 new customers may have joined the platform in the past few weeks. The timing of this jump, not surprisingly, corresponds with the introduction of several new handsets including the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710.
This jump is an early sign that Nokia’s name and its global reputation may help Windows Phone; but only time will tell if Nokia will become the hail mary Microsoft needs. We will have to re-visit these numbers a month from now after the launch hype has died down. Will Windows Phone be able to sustain this momentum or is this boost just a flash in the pan?