Although Microsoft made quite a bit of progress with the latest Windows Phone iteration, the OS seems to be struggling to gain more traction in the US.

According to Nielsen, WP ended the third quarter with a 7.3 percent share in the US, trailing behind Android with 42.8 percent, iOS with 28.3 and BlackBerry with 17.8 percent.

However, Nielsen did not differentiate between new Windows Phone handsets and old devices based on the Windows Mobile platform, which are still on sale. Interestingly Microsoft’s share is down from 9 percent earlier in the year and it is hard to explain the decline.

The introduction of Nokia Windows-based phones is expected to help Microsoft boost its share. However analysts are rather cautious. Several have already dropped sales forecasts for Lumia series phones and questioned Nokia’s pricing strategy in the process.

More here.