Microsoft Windows Phone has a good standing occupying the top three positions in the operating system industry. International Data Corporation (IDC) reported Google's platform Android may retain its top spot this year among the other platforms with 78.9 percent share of the global market.

IDC Forecast

According to the IDC recent report, Android will slightly fall to 76 percent share of the global market in 2018. The research firm also expects iOS to have 14.9 percent in 2014 and will be diving to 14.4 in 2018.

As for Microsoft's Windows Phone, IDC forecasts the platform to capture 3.9 percent of the market in 2014 and will increase to 7 percent in 2018. This forecast is completely different from IDC's previous reports. IDC estimated in 2011 that Windows Phone would have 20.9 percent of the market in 2015. Such forecast was revised in 2012 with Windows Phone having 19.2 percent share in 2016. In total, IDC thinks that shipment of smartphones will drop to 8.3 percent annually in 2017, and then will have a growth of 6.2 percent by 2018.

All forecasts see Windows Phone consistently increasing in its share of the global market. It is dubbed as the fastest growing OS for mobiles. Despite predicted downfall of smartphone sales, Windows Phone will still surge and might be the sole major operating system to gain more market share in the near future.

Android, iOS And BlackBerry

Even with the drop in the estimated figures, both Android and iOS will still occupy the first and second top spots, respectively. The third place which belongs to Windows Phone will increase in figures instead, although not a big leap, but its growth will surpass the decline in the market share of the other mobile platforms.

Windows Phone owner Microsoft, who has the continued support of Nokia and other vendors, announced at MWC 2014 event, several new partners like LG, Foxconn and Lenovo. The company is also processing its acquisition of Nokia's phone division. The next update from Microsoft's mobile OS will give way to more price-conscious products to target emerging markets.

Meanwhile, placing fourth is BlackBerry where shares in the global market are expected to dive from 1 percent this year to 0.3 percent about 4 years ahead.