Microsoft holds Windows Phone 8 hopes

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REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone entered the U.S. market Friday, giving Microsoft another chance to garner some elusive smartphone market share, analysts say.

The Nokia device is the first phone to be available with the Windows Phone 8 operating system on which Microsoft has spent hundreds of millions of dollars -- with little result so far, CNN Money reported.

While Microsoft's smartphone sales are slowly improving, they're falling behind Android and iOS competitors whose sales are growing much faster.

Microsoft's smartphone market share dropped to just 3.6 percent in September, down about two-thirds from where it stood when Windows Phone was first launched.

The best hope for Windows Phone, analysts say, lies in the fate of Microsoft's flagship product, Windows 8.

If the expected hundreds of millions of users of current Windows versions migrate to Windows 8 over the next several years, it could make the very similar Windows Phone 8 a more attractive prospect for consumers, analysts say.

"Once Windows 8 is on laptops, PCs and tablets, consumers are significantly more likely to adopt Windows Phone 8," Frost & Sullivan analyst Brent Iadarola said.