Windows Phone market share has finally caught steam last year as it emerged as the third most-preferred mobile platform behind Android and iOS.  Of course, there is not much to debate as to who the third top platform would be - Blackberry was in shambles, the Jolla platform is still trying to make an impact, and all other operating systems do not stand a chance - but the significant growth of Microsoft's brainchild simply could not be overlooked. 

In a recent report by ABI Research, the Windows Phone platform earned more than doubled its market share the previous year, shipping almost 11 million units throughout the year. 

Meanwhile, Android remained as the top mobile platform overall, grabbing 77 percent of the market share pie, amounting to 221 million shipped units. 

Unsurprisingly, Apple's iOS managed to get the highest quarter on quarter growth during the last part of the year, managing 51 percent growth, thanks mainly to its newly-announced iPads. 

In the report, Blackberry 10 OS continued to slip as its shipped units was cut in half, caused mainly be poor marketing and the seemingly unending problems concerning the company's future. 

In ABI Research's report, smartphone sales increased overall, with a growth of 38 percent year on year. However, with the tablet market continuing to expand, we'll expect these numbers to dip in the following quarters.