Although Nokia has been trying to increase its market share in China with its Tango-based smartphones, first-tier channel operators in China have adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward marketing the phones, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Microsoft has been unable to gain a foothold with its Windows Phone 7.5 platform in China so far and is now seeking an opportunity to break Android's dominance in the market by optimizing Nokia's entry-level model, the Tango-based Lumia 610, the sources noted.

To ramp up the popularity of the Windows Phone platform in China, Microsoft has managed to solicit 6,000 local software developers to develop applications for the platform, resulting in the roll-out of more than 2,000 Chinese-language applications, said the sources.

But first-tier channel operators will be reluctant to promote Tango phones, since smartphone users in China are more familiar with the Android system and sales of Android-based smartphones are able to generate more profits through the offering of value-added services, the sources commented.

Even so, IDC has estimated that Windows Phone-based smartphones will take up a 7.5% share in China's smartphone market in 2012 with the ratio to ramp up to 15% in 2013.
 

Source:digitimes