Steve Ballmer says Windows Phone 8 will topple RIM for number three spot

MICROSOFT CEO Steve Ballmer boasted on Monday that the firm's Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system will topple RIM's Blackberry 10 in the race to become the third most popular smartphone ecosystem, Reuters reports.

Speaking at a Windows Phone 8 launch event in Tel Aviv, Ballmer talked highly of the latest version of Microsoft's mobile operating system. He said, "With the work we have done with Nokia, HTC, Samsung and others ... there is now an opportunity to create really a strong third participant in the smartphone market."

He added that while Windows Phone is struggling in the smartphone market, sales of devices are likely to pick up quickly in the run up to Christmas.

"We are still relatively small ... I expect the volumes on Windows Phone to really ramp quickly."

He could be right too, as the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system isn't struggling as much as it once was, as a report from IDC recently revealed that Microsoft's slice of the smartphone market is slowly increasing. The research firm's third quarter statistics show that 3.6 million Windows powered handsets were shipped in the three month period, representing a 140 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2011.

Of course, it's still struggling to keep up with Android and IOS, which according to IDC account for 75 percent and 14.9 percent of the smartphone market, respectively.

Check out our Windows Phone 8 review. µ