Windows to Throw Smartphone Market Wide Open

The sizzle is going out of the mobile market in the next few years, IDC has predicted. Growth will continue, but at a relatively modest rate. Despite the slowdown, a major shift is in the making: Windows Phone 7 will be duking it out with Android and iOS on a more-or-less level playing field. That's if Microsoft and Nokia take the necessary steps to get there, the firm said.

The worldwide mobile phone market will grow slightly more than 4 percent in 2012 -- the smallest year-over-year increase since 2009, according to IDC. The decline is attributed to a slowdown in feature phone shipments, which are projected to drop by 10 percent, and a lackluster global economy.

The other surprise in the report is that the smartphone industry -- whose growth will be subdued as well -- will include a competitive Windows Phone 7 OS among its major players.

Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) alliance with Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will be largely to thank for that, Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, told the E-Commerce Times.

"The resurgence of Nokia and the rise of Windows Phone 7 market share will be concurrent trends," he said.