Windows growth to be just 0.5% in 2015

Microsoft’s thirst to put Windows on as many devices as is humanly possible is finally starting to bear the smallest fruit possible with growth of half a percentage point expected in 2015.

Gartner’s figures on the worldwide operating system market released yesterday showed that Windows owned 13.9 percent of the OS sector in 2013, a number that will drop to 13.7 percent this year before rebounding to 14.4 percent in 2015 -- a rise in two years of 0.5 percent.

"Microsoft is still trying to transition beyond PCs into ultramobile and phones. They are not making inroads, the volumes are still pretty small relative to the overall market,” research director Ranjit Atwal told The Register.

The minuscule increase comes as Microsoft is transitioning to life as a devices and services company that has included the acquisition of Nokia’s mobile business and the release of its semi-popular Surface line of tablet PCs.

PC sales, Microsoft’s bread and butter when it comes Windows, will be engulfed by tablets next year as the amount shipped reaches 321 million slates whereas PCs, including desktops, notebooks and 'ultramobile' devices, will ship just 317 million units.

Lower PC sales is in stark contrast to the mobile market that Microsoft hopes to crack with its Windows Phone OS where Android and iOS continue to lead the way.

Android is expected to own 48 percent of the worldwide OS market by the end of 2014 before accelerating to 52 percent by the close of 2015 -- far and away the largest OS on the planet.

Windows Phone devices, meanwhile, will still see a good chunk of growth over the coming few years and are expected to have reached the magic double figures mark by 2018 with a share of 10 percent in the mobile phone sector.

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