numbers dont make or break anything
quality does
sure windows phone isnt everyones cup of tea but guess what sooner or later,people will get bored of android and ios and get a windows phone
how do you think ios and android became popular over the behemoth - symbian anyway?
its the basic rule of nature,no one will shell out money again and again for the same experience as their old phone on their new phone
If people we're so quick to get bored of operating system, most of Windows Phone's market would have died already.
Android and iOS have received overhauls in the past few years so that people don't get bored of them, Windows Phone for the most part has remained the same.
And talking on the topic of Android, getting bored ain't easy because of so much customisation.
The experience of Android specifically gets way more functional with each update, can't say the same about iOS or Windows Phone.
Well in security, that's not the case with WP. One of my friend has already jailbreaked his 925 & he downloads apps/games from unknown sources, he did that before with his old L710. In Android downloading apps from unknown sources is a major reason for viruses, not WP.
As far as popularity goes, it can't be counted, you can't say that Android is 8 times more popular. You're getting mistaken with market share. Just because fiat sells more cars than rolls Royce doesn't make rolls Royce less popular. I know many people say WP is worse, it doesn't have this, that etc, but they could say that only if they're aware that WP OS exists. Android, iOS is popular but that doesn't make wp less popular. I know ways to plant viruses in Windows & Mac as well, Mac is very popular even when it has less than 5% market share.
WP wasn't at the third spot by default, when Nokia came with WP, it was still manufacturing Symbian phones, BB still exists & a lot more OSes exists even today.
Downloading apps from unknown sources isn't a "major" reason for viruses until someone can statistically prove it.
Even if your friend has a jailbroken 925 and previously 710, what is the total percentage of people that do that?
I know that you can install XAPs from your PC to your Windows Phone without the Windows Store, but there is a limit of only 2 apps that you can install!
On Android enabling unknown sources is easier, so is installing apps and downloading them thus it gets targeted more.
Also market share doesn't coincide with popularity completely but in Windows Phone's case it somewhat does.
The iPhone has a low market share but even those that can't afford it will know about it. Android's popularity is high anyways, so is market share.
Windows Phone just ain't popular, at least in many countries or people I've seen and talked to. Hell I've seen more Nokia X devices than I have any budget Windows Phones out there in the wild.
Windows Phone was one of the most competent smartphone platforms backed up by one of the richest companies, BlackBerry was bound to fail and so was Symbian so the fact that Windows Phone is number three isn't a huge, if at all, achievement.
Android's security, especially with more recent versions isn't something to be hugely concerned about.