Verizon is one of the top four carriers in the U.S. and it has one of the biggest smartphone portfolios in the country. A recent statement from John Stratton, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, suggests that the company supports Windows and BlackBerry operating system, which may indicate that more Windows and BlackBerry handsets are heading to the carrier.
Referring to the stiff competition in the mobile operating system market Stratton says, "We'd certainly like to see at least a third player. And it is yet to be determined if it will occur. We are aggressively supporting Microsoft and [BlackBerry], because those are the next two obvious guys. There are some other clouds on the horizon that may or may not come about, some different things that some of the OEMs are trying to do, but timing is tough."
A recent analysis from research firm Gartner shows that in Q1 2013 Android has the highest market share of 74.4 percent with iOS holding on to the second position with 18.2 percent share. BlackBerry and Microsoft's Windows Phone platform occupies the third and the fourth position with 3 percent and 2.9 percent market share, respectively.
Windows Phone 8 (WP8) smartphones started hitting the shelves from Nov. 2012 and since then, the new operating system has received a lot of attention from smartphone enthusiasts. Smartphone makers have launched only a handful of WP8 smartphones but with the growing popularity of the handset it seems that windows platform may gain more market share in the near future.
BlackBerry also released the latest BlackBerry 10 in January this year and till now only a couple of handsets have been launched running the new operating system. BlackBerry will have to get a bit aggressive if it wants to remain in the number three position.
Currently, Verizon has only five Windows smartphones and four BlackBerry handsets on offer. If Verizon is "aggressively supporting" Microsoft and BlackBerry operating system then we should see more BlackBerry and Windows phone making their way to the carrier.
