The latest smartphone sales figures are out today from Kantar WorldPanel Comtech, and in case you needed one more metric to underscore the topline trend that's been the case for years, the WPP market-research analysts are giving it to you: led by Samsung, Android, it says, accounted for 70% of all smartphone sales in the biggest markets in Europe and China for the 12-week period to the end of July. Apple, meanwhile is an increasingly mixed picture, with shares as low as 6% in one country, Spain, and as high as 43% in the U.S. Interestingly, Kantar's figures also highlight another important trend. Microsoft's Windows Phone OS -- and by association its biggest partner, Nokia -- continues to gain ground, if slowly.*It nudged up to 3.5% of sales in the U.S., and in Europe, it has nearly doubled its share in the last year and is now at 8.2% of sales.More...