Microsoft Jan-11 Feb-12 March-12 April-12 May-12 Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sept-12 Oct-12 Nov-12 Dec-12 Jan-13 US installed base 4.4 3.9 3.9 4.0 4.0 3.8 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.2 3.0 2.9 3.1 Percent loss 0.2 0.5 0 -0.1 0 0.2 0.2 0 0 0.4 0.2 0.1 -0.2

We are pretty used to reading bad news each month the Comscore numbers come out, so it will come as somewhat of a surprise to readers that this month things are looking up.

According to Comscore in the last 3 months ending January 2013 3.1 % of 129.4 million smartphone users in USA owned a Windows Mobile or Windows Phone handset. While this is slightly down from 3 months ago, it is up sequentially, meaning in January 2013 more than 4 million Americans owned a phone running a Microsoft OS. This is a stunning 360,000 up from the December numbers.

It is also the first time in more than 2 years that Microsoft OS numbers have been up 0.2% points, which hopefully means it is more than a statistical anomaly.

While we will be careful about saying the Comscore numbers have hit the bottom and are on their way up, we do note that when the Comscore numbers start being equal to the Windows Phone market share, as indicated by Kantar numbers, which shows Windows Phone having 3.2% market share, the only way really is up.

Do our readers think we have hit the bottom? Let us know below.

Update: Asymco tweeted this graph, noting in the 3 months ending January 2013 Windows Phone added nearly as many users (360,000) and Android (400,000) in USA.

With Android trending down maybe USA is ready for a change after all.

Thanks Brian for the tip.