Microsoft officially surrenders on Windows Phone
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Microsoft is giving up on its effort to convince people to run Windows on their smartphone, at least for now. In a series of tweets, Windows executive Joe Belfiore said that the company will continue to fix bugs and security issues but won't add new features to Windows 10 Mobile. Plus, he said, he has personally moved to an Android phone.
Why it matters: The phone versions of Windows have been a virtual nonentity for a while now, but this announcement confirms that Microsoft is moving on as well.
"Of course we'll continue to support the platform.. bug fixes, security updates, etc.," Belfiore said Sunday on Twitter. " But building new features/(hardware) aren't the focus."
He added that Microsoft tried hard, but just couldn't get enough users, which in turn made it tough to get support from app makers.
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Flashback: At a company event celebrating the completion of Windows Phone 7 in 2010, Microsoft's mobile team held an extremely ill-advised "funeral" for the iPhone.
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Maybe MSFT must embrace Android w/ MSFT apps just like Bill Gates and others at MSFT said. I am sure Android with Live Tiles will be a deal breaker for me.
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Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING
It a shame for my Nokia 1020 it has an 41MP Sensor and a real xenon flash, But it`s stuck on Win8 Mobile, I wish i could install Android.
John. -
killkenny1 Too weird to live, too rare to die.
Since I'm soon gonna be in a market for a new smartphone, there's basically nothing to choose from, just Android... Kinda lame.Starlight5, Dr. AMK and Vasudev like this. -
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Last edited: Oct 10, 2017Dr. AMK likes this. -
Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING
John.Starlight5, Dr. AMK and Vasudev like this. -
I think “custom made Android by MSFT” would be a sales disaster just like Amazon’s Fire Phone is. Nobody wants an Android smartphone that can’t access Google Play. I think a much better approach would be to sell a “Microsoft phone” with all of MSFT’s Android apps preinstalled and set as defaults, but still with Google Play to avoid the “app gap” argument that killed Windows Phone.killkenny1, Dr. AMK and Vasudev like this. -
Last edited by a moderator: Oct 11, 2017Dr. AMK likes this. -
RIP Windows Phone: Microsoft officially pulls plug
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...rosoft-makes-officially-pulls-plug/747686001/
https://twitter.com/joebelfiore/sta...rosoft-makes-officially-pulls-plug/747686001/ -
Starlight5, Dr. AMK and hmscott like this.
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Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?
Dr. AMK, killkenny1 and Vasudev like this. -
killkenny1 Too weird to live, too rare to die.
And since there are basically left only two smartphone OS'es, I think some antitrust suits would be just right. Just like what happened with Windows back in the day.Vasudev, Dr. AMK and Starlight5 like this. -
Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?
@killkenny1 I wanted Blackberry Priv very much, but inability to remove Google services and other pre-installed junk was pretty much a deal-breaker. Also, the perspective of being stuck on older Android versions - which is the case for most smartphones with locked bootloader - ain't stellar either.
Dr. AMK likes this. -
Antitrust might get a bit difficult when you technically don't need the Google suit. Side-loading support on Android is required after all.
BTW, if you hate the current Android per-device ROM model, look into Anbox, which puts Android userland in a container to run within a GNU/Linux environment. On hardware with good FLOSS driver support this approach might work sometime in the future.Vasudev, Dr. AMK and Starlight5 like this. -
Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING
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MS themselves state 'Neither the hardware nor the software is different from other Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices'.
As @Mitlov correctly states, if MS did try and create a truly custom Android ROM (as opposed to simply pre-installing some of their apps onto a handset), Google would simply refuse certification and it would die a quick and embarrassing death due to lack of apps.
As for the idea of anti-trust suits against Google, the fact is they don't do anything with Android that could fall foul of it.
They don't require the installation of any of their apps for a company to use Android, which is where MS had trouble back in the day - they literally make the OS available to anyone with no restrictions or even licencing fees. On top of which, they don't restrict the installation or use of any alternative apps to their own services, users can have any other e-mail provider, web browser, sat nav, music streaming service etc that they want.
Simply being widely used is not enough to warrant anti-trust accusations, it's what companies do with their market-share that decides it. -
killkenny1 Too weird to live, too rare to die.
Starlight5, Vasudev and Dr. AMK like this. -
You can disable a lot of the Google apps from the Application Manager too, which you can't even do for a lot of the OEM's own stuff.
So, even in that respect, the Google stuff isn't terrible.
If you're really set against having Google stuff on your handset though, you're probably going to have to look at a custom ROM or, say, import a handset from China that doesn't have it.Dr. AMK likes this. -
Haven't confirmed this personally but according to what I've heard some Chinese ROMs actually have the Google Framework stuff installed. They just don't load the Google Play Store front end as a built-in app. So you're still running a part of the Google suit in the background. No Chrome or Hangout though.
Dr. AMK likes this. -
It'll depend on the OEM and the specific handset.
Plus, some resellers flash 'vendor ROMs'as well, which obfuscates matters further.Vasudev likes this. -
"Microsoft officially surrenders on Windows Phone"
If a tree falls in the forest... -
Well, microsoft should understand, something like the nokia x would've survived, but win 10, bwah, even desktop ones have problems. Why wouldnt this have any?
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How the iPhone Managed to Beat the Windows Phone, Explains Former Microsoft Executive
Windows Phone is a dead platform, with the iPhone and Android ruling the smartphone duopoly OS market share around the globe. For a software company like Microsoft, it can actually surprise industry pundits and experts on where the tech giant went wrong.
However, according to former Windows Phone Senior Director Brandon Watson, the problem was not necessarily because of the operating system itself, but because how the company and its partners were marketing and selling the devices that ran this OS. -
Time to move on from Windows 10 Mobile, and much more on #AskDanWindows 49
Vasudev likes this. -
Dr. AMK likes this.
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I was thinking of iphone but lack of apps for Indian store and Apple id restriction that disallows changing App store location multiple times are one of the factors that had me deciding to switch to Android.
I'm getting used to Android now.Dr. AMK likes this. -
Yes, In different countries it may be different. But in Canada...the iPhone is the best, smoothest running phone now. Joe, and company never started using iPhone etc until Nadella took the reigns fyi!
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They weren't using iPhone officially, now they flaunt it.
If i was resident of usa, then my phone would be the iPhone. Otherwise Android suits me.Dr. AMK likes this. -
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Honestly Microsoft used to make somewhere between $5-15 from every Android phone from patent royalties alone if I recall from a 4-5 year old article, basically more overall from Android than Windows phone in aggregate. There’s also talk MS might release it’s own Android phone. https://www.windowslatest.com/2018/07/14/microsoft-is-reportedly-working-on-a-new-phone/
MS backed open search group or whatever it’s called also recently thanks to EU regulators helped put I believe a $2.8 Billion fine on Google. Looks like MS is trying hard to help take Android away from Google’s dominance. Already paying Samsung and some others to bundle MS apps on certain editions. -
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https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/microsoft-puts-breaks-dual-screen-andromeda
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I doubt anyone will buy Windows Phone since they're dead anyways and No point resurrecting OS on a dead platform. Too much wasted time and resources.Dr. AMK likes this. -
Microsoft will revamp Andromeda entirely for 2019
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isn't is too late to make any inroads by MS?
Microsoft officially surrenders on Windows Phone
Discussion in 'Smartphones and Tablets' started by Dr. AMK, Oct 10, 2017.