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When managers have a chat without firing off marketing buzzwords things get really interesting. Last week, Joe Belfiore, the man in charge of Windows Edge, announced the end of Windows in the mobile space as a side note. Windows 10 for cellphones will no longer be developed and users will only receive bug fixes and security updates until the end of 2019. That means there'll only be two big competitors left in the cellphone market, i.e. iOS and Android. Even though Windows Phone ran on only 1% of all cellphones it had a resounding effect. Rarely had it become so apparent where market power ends and how hard it is to close an innovation gap.
Many had already considered Microsoft's late (and clumsy) entry into the cellphone market a mistake they'd never be able to make good on. Android and iOS already had a huge user base when the somewhat conservative Windows Phone 7 arrived. The closed system (like Apple's) discouraged some app developers from making apps for it, the default syncing of all contacts and calendar entries met with distrust and some annoying bugs were only fixed after years. Despite all advertising attempts, the system never gained widespread adoption and fell into a sort of limbo. Why would companies go to a lot of trouble to develops apps for a niche system? And why would potential buyers go for a cellphone that wouldn't have their favorite apps? Co-operations with big phone distributors didn't help the situation much. While Blackberry clawed back some market share (thanks to hardware keyboards, good security and a focus on business users), the software giant from Redmond failed.
But Microsoft fought on. Feature after feature was added and big players like Facebook or WhatsApp and other successful apps were brought to the platform or replaced with alternatives. Bottom line: despite almost 300,000 apps, users were left frustrated and stayed away from the product because the store was either still missing popular apps or they were watered down versions compared to what was available on Android and iOS. Microsoft recently even admitted they offered developers money to encourage them to port their apps over to Windows Phone. When that didn't work, they developed their own apps out of desperation - to no avail.
Microsoft's vision of running the same (or similar) system on PCs and cellphones also made waves the effects of which could be felt all the way down to the PC segment. The Windows 8 tiles debacle that infuriated users around the world had its roots in the mobile realm. It was an attempt to converge two divergent interface metaphors. What may work on a cellphone drove Windows PC users nuts Ind created the huge Windows 7 fan base still present today. Only with Windows 8.1 and later Windows 10 was Microsoft able to somewhat reconcile with their user base.
A bearer of hope that rotted away on the shelves
Still, Windows phones were better than their reputation. But since they were late to the party and made by Microsoft they were deemed uncool, annoying (especially thanks to constant syncing) and clumsy to use. Here's my sober take on the issue: the systems weren't flawless but when has there ever been a flawless OS? You'll find logical errors, unsettling telemetry features and confusing settings in any OS including Android and iOS yet, nobody was willing to give the software giant the benefit of the doubt. To me, Windows phones were the perfect entry-level device with a more intuitive user interface than Android phones and far more attractive price tags than Apple devices. The tile-based design won't please everyone but it offered great handling especially for seniors and the small user base made it unattractive as a target for hackers - that's a definitive advantage. But it was all to no avail. Apple retained their image as a hotshot, Android had a humongous developer community and an unbeatable price tag and Microsoft remained the red-headed stepchild.
Windows 10 devices were the last attempt to a gain a foothold in the market. They offered unmatched compatibility with PCs and tablets and received some praise. Users finally had a genuine file explorer and got a better app store experience. Whatever ran on a PC was supposed to be easily portable to cellphones. Microsoft tried to sweep up their competitors with moderate price tags and good hardware - and failed again. Statistics currently list a meager 0.1% market share for Windows 10-based phones, quite embarrassing for a market leader. However surprising the termination of this business division may seem, it was unavoidable. Still, Microsoft won't completely abandon the cellphone market. Some of their programs like the Office suite or the Edge browser will also be available on Android and iOS. And yes, Joe Belfiore is reportedly now using an Android device and so is Bill Gates. So farewell Windows Phone, who knows what could have been!
What I would like to know: do you have any experience with Windows Phone? How do you think the discontinuation of this alternative mobile system will affect the market?
Pictures: Microsoft News Centre
i was gifted a lumina 628 [new] by a apple phone person, and spent many frustating hrs trying to get it to accept my contacts from my sim [200+] , the way it wanted to do it involved buting a new phone with comatible blue tooth [it wouldn't recognise my old phones version] and another new sim activated sim with the contacts on it for the other phone to transmit, it wouldn't accept the sims contact on the nokia 628 [ i tryed multiple times to get them to transfer, many hrs of work and frustration] but after a reboot thay wern't visable-their on the phone.
i worked out it would have talken a week to enter all of them manualy. also i tryed to remove things-apps i didnt require-want but were back afer a reboot.
ended up throughing it the incinerator
no happy ending
I have a Lumia 435. It is the only smartphone I've ever had. It cost under £40 new. A few weeks ago, much to my surprise, I was able to upgrade to windows 10. I have some apps which I use a lot eg Tides. I also liked HereDrive which unfortunately disappeared on upgrade - it was possible to regularly update the maps for free unlike my Garmin. I am now using Mapfactor Navigator free which isn't bad. I was forced to upgrade to Win10 because Skype had stopped working but Microsoft, of course, didn't bother to tell me - I had to dig around on Google to discover what the problem was and how to fix it. Other apps I use frequently are MetOffice, Crossword Solver and Word Enigma. MSN news is much better than Yahoo.
I own a Dual Sim Lumia 950XL and it was the flagship of the Windows 10 Mobile line, I still love it, has the best camera you will find ANYWHERE even to this day.
For me being a photographer for 25+ years find it very sad to see the brand new introduced phones still unable to keep up with the Lumia camera optics. Compared to Windows phones, the Androids and Iphones don't have the same integration unless you have Macbooks or Chromebooks, which I don't have.
That is disappointing.
I've owned 3 Windows phones. I love my Lumia 650; it does pretty much everything I want it to. the phone may not be top of the range but it is elegant and uses the Windows 10 operating system with ease. OS is refreshingly simple, and I love the fact that it talks to my other Windows devices.
I'm not a great user of apps, and I think the Windows phones could have been a great choice for business people, etc. had not Microsoft come so late to the party.
Went to ios, hated it, was ready to go back to a flip phone. Got a windows phone, LOVED it. Will keep my windows phone as long as possible.
I think microsoft just wanted to kill nokia. I love the phones and windows is good on it. I still use the lumia640. Pity.
Wow, evidently every Windows Phone user reads your columns Sven. /s
Seriously, it never had a chance, and I don't think that it had any lasting affect on the market. A classic lesson that if "too little, too late", no amount of money or push can save you.
Thanks for the laugh. :) I can fully understand when people are sad they have to say goodbye to their devices of choice. My parents feel the same way and I’ll try my best to familiarize them with Android.
I have a Lumia 950 & my wife has a Lumia 735.
I love how all my devices are Sync'd automatically.
I use Cortana at home, work and in my car.
I had started with a Windows 6-6.5 phone (HTC) then Windows 8 (Lumia 820).
We both love our Windows phones, and feel abandoned by Microsoft. They gave up on their customers.
We'll hang on to our phones and then decide what kind to switch to.
I bought my EE/Nokia/Lumia635 Windows10 mobile for under £50 as my SATNAV , far better than the one in my car. EE threw in their Power Bar at no extra cost and with my TalkTalk offer for free low usage, my total cost each year has been less than £5.00 ! O.K. - it hasn't got Bluetooth to control my Robomow. Is there anything like that value on the market today ? ! !
What on earth are Microsoft doing. Is there no loyalty left. Young people can pick up new systems easily but it is not so easy in later life. The interaction with Windows 10 on the PC was refreshing, but what now.
Sad news. We have an Android Samsung, iPhone and Nokia Windows phone. The latter has the easiest to use operating system and battery life by a mile. Bit old fashioned but I value a smartphone that can actually make calls when you need it!
Love my Windows phone. I have had Android and a chance to fiddle around with an iPhone but they aren't as intuitive as Windows. The low market share actually reflects the fact that people have known that Windows Phone was going as new models were not appearing.
The connection to my desktop is something I value and I deliberately picked up a 950 with the intention of keeping it going for as long as possible. I think Microsoft have made a big error in giving up as it undermines their stated Windows 10 on all devices strategy. It will make their desktop dominance vulnerable to competition.
I too will be saddened when I have to change from Windows Phone to Android, as I really like the single platform across my devices. I am a long time Nokia loyalist, having sold them from the beginning and subsequently operated a Nokia service centre for many years. I therefore was drawn into Windows Phone after MS bought the Nokia mobile business but have come to enjoy the experience on my Lumia 950. It really is the lack of apps which is the tipping point; I am not a great user of apps but this in some ways is worse because it is the more obscure apps which are never ported to Windows. I am pleased that Nokia lives again and my next upgrade will be to one of theirs and some of the excellent Android apps. At least the basic Windows apps like One Note and One Drive are available on Android
I had a Lumia 710 for a couple of years. It was so good I promised never to buy a Windows phone ever again. It was delivered with WP 7.5, which was soon updated to WP 7.8, which was mostly window dressing. We were then told that there would be no more updates for the 710 because it was lacking the capacity to handle the updated OS. Wonderful.
I was very saddened to read this news. My wife owns a Lumia 535. Barring a few issues (mainly unavailability and bad performance of third party apps) we like the device. Microsoft indeed made good use of the resources available in the device. With Snapdragon 200 and 1 GB RAM, that device runs smoother in day-to-day operations than my Redmi 5s with Snapdragon 430 and 2 GB RAM. Also free space in Lumia (total 8 Gb) was greater than in Redmi (total 16 Gb).
I feel the resource utilization in Windows Phone is somewhat comparable with iPhones with much lesser price tag.
I thought that hybrid of desktop and mobile OS is the future with the advent of 2-in-1 laptops. Windows 8's interface, speculation around the merger of Chrome OS & Android (Fuchsia OS) and iPad Pro made me excited.
Nevertheless I feel that the war is not ended. Lots of steam is still left in this. Users' perception around Desktop/Laptop & Mobile are changing rapidly. We may see Microsoft re-entering the revolutionized mobile platform once it fixes its Windows store and other similar features in Windows 10.
I have a Windows phone. Have never bothered to get a new phone for the past 5 years. Simply the best & most intuitive phone that I've owned. Has great features built in. I'm going to buy the last model &get a few more years out of it.
Been using windows phones for years. I really like them and can't see what the problem is. I don't use many apps so don't care about how many are available. I have a flashlight app, bank app and my fitbit app that all run on windows phone. Thats all I use any way and they all work fine. Used a lumia 1320 for several years and 6 inch screen is great. I pre ordered a lumia 650 about a year and a half ago and that has been great too but the smaller 5 inch screen was hard to get used to after the bigger one. Eyesight is only getting worse the older I get so the big screen with enlarged text is so much easier to read without having to put on glasses constantly and no tiny menus to read with the tiles to click on instead. Recently went back to using my 1320 again with an old install of windows 10 on it (10586) because calls started dropping out after a minute on the 650. Not sure if that was a problem with the phone or optus. 1320 still does it occasionally but I live in a bad signal area opposite an army base with all sorts of communications antennas blocking signals from over there. The phones are really cheap to buy too instead of $1000 for the other types of phones. So I reckon they are all going to drop in price now after this announcement so should be some good phones going for bargain prices shortly. I think I will still be using them for a few more years yet especially if I can get some for under $100. Can stock up and swap to another phone if the one i am using goes wrong or the battery stops holding a charge.
I think the main reason for me staying away from Windows phone is the same that is making me resist buying another Windows computer. The Windows operating systems and programmes are unsupported after a few years and you feel orphaned!
I'm one of those loyalists, still using my Lumia 950, which all began with my Hp iPaq. It's just sad. Microsoft just kept moving the goal posts and left older phones without the ability to be upgraded. This was compounded by trying to make a phone a pc before the technology would allow. The many bugs and frustrations along the way with each change didn't help. People just want their phones to do phone things and do phone things well. That's what iphones and Androids do. Microsoft are too big to care and have just gone after the masses with all their MS apps, Office , OneDrive etc available on iOS and Android. They've resorted to the lowest common denominator, the $, and not leading to what might be a better system. I like the camera too much on my Lumia 950 and being older and not so much in to the young App set I'll keep it for a little while longer until, Oh the pain, I get an Android!
I bought a Lumia 950 and have been really pleased with it. When updates come out they are available immediately, unlike Android where I never got upgrades for the Nokia model I had. The camera is better than the others and the panorama feature is excellent.
I do have an iPad and find the quality of the software supplied is very poor and non-intuitive.
I will be sorry to have to dump this phone in the future, but will continue to use it for the time being, most of the apps I need I have on the Windows phone.