The story of Microsoft’s Windows Phone Operating System has been bittersweet, to say the least. Despite not being half bad, the lack of App Developers willing to develop for this platform and the inability of Microsoft to lure new users have led to the Windows Phone platform to be in a somewhat stagnant state.
Now, as seen by these recent tweets by Joe Belfiore(Microsoft’s Corporate VP):
Of course we'll continue to support the platform.. bug fixes, security updates, etc. But building new features/hw aren't the focus. 😟 https://t.co/0CH9TZdIFu
— Joe Belfiore (@joebelfiore) October 8, 2017
We have tried VERY HARD to incent app devs. Paid money.. wrote apps 4 them.. but volume of users is too low for most companies to invest. ☹️ https://t.co/ePsySxR3LB
— Joe Belfiore (@joebelfiore) October 8, 2017
It seems Microsoft too, has given up on their efforts to revive the windows phone platform. While this doesn’t come as a surprise, it still is disappointing to see a mobile OS with a lot of potential bite the dust. I’ve always found Windows Phone to have a much smoother UI than Android. Also, Microsoft’s Continuum demo did seem pretty nice. But the lack of users meant that app developers weren’t willing to invest the time and effort in developing for the Windows Phone OS. After all is said and done, Microsoft felt that it needed to shift it’s focus elsewhere, and it is certainly the right decision in my humble opinion.
Belfiore also reassured users of Windows Phone that support(ie, bug fixes, security updates, etc) for this platform wouldn’t be impacted by this. The only thing ending is further development of features for the platform.
One thing that I do have a gripe with however, is that Microsoft STILL hasn’t given an official announcement that it’s pulling the plug on it’s Windows Phone OS, leaving it’s (handful of) users still hopeful for a revival that wont be coming anytime soon. Guess these tweets from Belfiore are as official an announcement as we’ll get regarding this. Unfortunate that a company as big as Microsoft is deciding to “play safe” and not openly admit that they are giving up on their Mobile OS at least for the time being.