The Windows Phone platform is growing substantially since the beginning of 2013. Since the year began, Microsoft's mobile platform managed to grow faster than Android, iOS and BlackBerry.  
 
The information came from the latest Kantar WorldPanel figures via Forbes, that detailed the first three months of 2013, ending in March. According to the data, Windows Phone has a decent 5.6 percent market share in the United States, a 2.4 percent growth since January. Throughout the same timeframe, iOS gained 0.2 percent shares while Android managed to drop by 1.9 percent.  
 
Further down the line, we have BlackBerry, which only managed to gain 0.2 percent despite the launch of the BlackBerry Z10. This is  a huge problem for RIM as the company attempts to regain control of a market it pioneered back in the day.  
 
A year ago, the Windows Phone platform grew by 3.7 percent, which is more than 50 percent year on year growth. Android 47.9 percent share a year ago now sits at 49.3 percent, iOS on the other hand managed to fall from 44.6 percent to 43.7 percent, while BlackBerry fell from 2.6 percent to 0.9 percent.  
 
Key Windows Phone partner, Nokia, grew its market share in the United States to 4 percent, that's up from 1 percent a year ago.  
 
The question is, why is Windows Phone growing in the United States. According to Kantar, it has mainly to do with how easy the operating system is to use, thus it attracts novice smartphone users who are not up for a huge confusing mess of things.  
 
Kantar claims 52 percent of the 240,000 mobile phone users it surveyed switched to Windows Phone from a feature phone handset.  
 
What we have here is good news for Microsoft, this is what the company wanted to achieve back in 2010 when the first set of Windows Phone devices went on sale. If growth continues down this path, it is likely that by 2014, Windows Phone will have at least 10 percent market share in the United States.