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Windows Phone 8 is picking up steam, and devices running on the platform have actually beat iPhones in no less than 27 countries.

It seems that 2013 was a good year for Windows Phone, considering the latest figures. While the platform is widely seen as the underdog in the increasingly competitive mobile market largely dominated by Android and iOS, Windows Phone has managed to penetrate areas where the iPhone has failed to see a wide adoption.

According to recent data, Windows Phone handsets have outsold iPhones in 27 different countries. As expected, Microsoft's mobile platform is most popular in regions where consumers cannot or will not spend money on something as expensive as an iPhone. Such regions include Central and South America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia.

The Windows Phone platform has also soared past the iPhone in Mexico, Columbia, Italy, Greece, India, Pakistan, Nokia's home country of Finland, and more. Forbes has published the full list of countries where Windows Phone has surpassed the iPhone.

The vast majority of Windows Phone handsets that pushed the platform past the iPhone are low-end. According to IDC data, as much as 93 percent of these handsets are made by Nokia, but there's no big surprise here. The analyst company estimates that Windows Phone sales rose 156 percent over the last year alone.

Apple, meanwhile, is still dominant in two essential markets: the U.S. and Japan. Windows Phone, however, is gaining ground in those markets as well, and is expected to increase its market share. Microsoft's platform is also gaining ground in the EU.

Moreover, while Apple's iOS has been either losing ground or staying flat, Windows Phone adoption has increased in nearly every country. But iOS is not the only platform Windows Phone is beating in some countries. Microsoft's platform has also surpassed BlackBerry, the ailing Canadian company that is still bleeding sales and customers. BlackBerry continues to see users ditch its platform in favor of competing operating systems, and Windows Phone gets a fair share of that.

Microsoft's platform still has a long way to go in competing with iOS and Android at the higher-end segment of the market, but the platform is definitely picking up steam and Nokia has played a fundamental role in this achievement.

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