New figures from eMarketer have illustrated the rising power of Microsoft's Windows Phone in the UK, with the handsets set to overtake BlackBerry devices in the popularity stakes soon.
The position BlackBerry and Windows Phone are jostling for is for third most popular platform for UK consumers, after Android and Apple, and the decline of BlackBerry looks to be Microsoft's gain.
BlackBerry has been losing its share of the market for some time, hit with the overwhelming popularity of the iPhone and Android devices for business users, which was previously its domain.
Forecasts now predict BlackBerry users will drop by 35.2 per cent by the end of 2014, and 41.7 per cent in 2015, leaving the operating system with just 1.4 million customers compared to 21.3 million for Android and 3.5 million for Windows Phone.
Bill Fisher, UK analyst at eMarketer, said: "The demise of BlackBerry has long been documented but these numbers highlight just how far it has fallen from grace.
"Android and iOS are clearly dominant, but while Microsoft is making significant effort to grow its presence buying Nokia's mobile phone unit and recently partnering with HTC to offer a Windows-based version of the flagship HTC One M8 BlackBerry appear to have been treading water."
BlackBerry recently concluded a company restructure, with an internal memo sent to employees stating that the company would be refocusing on the business market for the future, notably on mobile data security and device management.
