In a series of tweets on Sunday, Microsoft’s Windows 10 Chief Joe Belfiore revealed what many saw it coming for a long time now. Belfiore’s tweets disclosed that the software giant won’t create anymore new software or hardware features for Windows 10 mobile phones. These revelations have made it clear, though not officially, that Microsoft has almost pulled the plug on windows 10 phones.
“Of course we’ll continue to support the platform.. bug fixes, security updates,” Belfiore tweeted while responding to a query. “But building new features/hw aren’t the focus.”
Microsoft had been giving more than enough subtle hints for a long time that it is putting mobile OS business on a backburner. Last year, the tech giant decided to slash its mobile business by giving pink slip to thousands of workers.
While slashing jobs from its mobile business unit was good enough signal, but Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella this year dropped off another hint. At Microsoft’s recent Build and Inspire conferences, Nadella clearly signaled that ‘mobile business’ is not company’s current priority and described ‘intelligent cloud and intelligent edge’ as the new growth strategy.
But the most definite hint about window phone’s doom came from none other than Microsoft’s legendary founder Bill Gates. Last month, Gates revealed to the American media that he has ditched Windows Phone and is currently using Android device.
Clearly taking cue from Gates, Belfiore also revealed on twitter that he too now is using an Android phone, which actually didn’t came as a surprise to anyone.
What went wrong with Windows Phone?
While we can bet that Microsoft will surely do an in-depth case study, but Belfiore’s tweets clearly pinned the blame on ‘lack of app diversity’ on the platform for windows downfall. He claimed that the company simply could not retain apps once they were developed.
“We have tried very hard to incent app devs,” Belfiore tweeted. “Paid money.. wrote apps 4 them.. but volume of users is too low for most companies to invest.” This raison d’etre does make sense, considering that today most smartphones are app driven.
Microsoft entered the mobile OS business with the launch of Windows 7 in 2010. But by 2010, the mobile OS market had matured way beyond anyone had imagined, with IOS and Android clearly emerging as the two most dominant players in the market. But the tech behemoth was still confident that its late entry won’t prove to be a disadvantageous factor to take on Android & IOS.
However, as the fate would have it, Windows Phone simply could not turn the tide, as the sales figure plummeted over the last few years despite massive investment done by the company.
