Microsoft CEO admits repeatedly abandoning consumers was a mistake

Though he didn't mention Windows phone specifically, Nadella clearly failed in his commitment to Windows phone users. Reneging on a promise to make Windows phones if no one else did, withdrawing from markets where Windows phones thrived, a lack of marketing and failing to lead Universal Windows Platform (UWP) support with first-party apps is a condemning litany of proof of Nadella's failed commitment to consumers.

The cost of abandoning these users is higher than angering a few loyalists. Mobile platforms are key to developer, OEM, and consumer relationships. They're also the nexus for technologies such as smart homes, smart speakers, and wearables.

Nadella severed Microsoft from all of these things, and its bridge to the future, when he abandoned Windows phone users.

The allure of mixed reality and AI

During the recent interview with business podcast Marketplace's Corner Office, Nadella said the following of Microsoft's failure in mobile:

If you missed something you … look at what's the next turn. We're ... excited about the cloud… And the next big wave … Mixed Reality and AI.

When asked of his most recent significant mistake, Nadella replied:

In many cases customers have already chosen to work with you, and yet you consciously or unconsciously abandon them to go work off on the new shiny object.

Pursuing a shiny new mixed-reality and AI future while abandoning Windows phone users may have burned Microsoft's bridge to that future.

Windows phone's Catch 22

In his book, Hit Refresh Nadella said: "I did not get why the world needed the third ecosystem in phones, unless we changed the rules." If he plans to bring a unique device to market powered by Core OS he faced a difficult crossroads when deciding Windows 10 Mobile's future.

Should he continue to allow Window phones, with their negative reputation, to remain in the market? Or should he eradicate the platform and start fresh with a new product category unassociated with Microsoft's failed smartphones?

If he chose the former, the negative narrative that surrounds Microsoft's mobile attempts would've persisted. By eradicating phones, Nadella may silence that narrative before introducing something new. However, "hitting refresh" may cost vital consumer, developer and OEM relationships.

Keeping Windows phone alive until a new device materializes, with a phase-out thereafter, could have been a wiser choice. But Nadella likely saw a rejected platform coexisting with its new approach as an opportunity for product and message confusion.

His choices were lose-lose propositions.

No developers, no bridge to the future

Purging Windows phones may have been the wrong choice if Nadella wants developer support for what's next. With no mobile platform developers lose interest.

In addition to other efforts, Microsoft could have built standard-setting, first-party UWP apps to communicate a commitment to and confidence in its own platform. Developers may have followed suit. Nadella focused on other platforms instead.

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/ePsySxR3LBWe 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 October 8, 2017

Without developers, UWP's future, which serves Microsoft's entire device family not just phones, is in trouble. Though Microsoft hopes Windows 10 S will draw developers to UWP, most are mobile-focused. Nadella has removed what little incentive they had. Consequently, the Windows Store and Microsoft's non-phone mobile vision, including cellular PCs and HoloLens, will suffer.

Developer's don't love Microsoft

Abandoned OEMs and the loss of future markets

Sadly, HP and other OEMs suffered the same mishandling by Microsoft as consumers. Nadella's broken consumer, developer, and OEM relationships will invariably affect the company's future.

Mixed reality, wearables and AI-supported ambient computing will need developers, OEMs and consumers. Without a mobile platform and its associated developer and OEM relationships, Microsoft has no bridge from the present to its vision of the future.

Will lack of consumer focus hurt Microsoft's future?

Killing Windows 10 Mobile following a history of abandoning Windows phone users will likely have a more profound future impact than Nadella anticipates.

Hitting refresh

Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore's recent Windows phone tweets were specific to Windows 10 Mobile. If events continue playing out as outlined, Microsoft's project Andromeda may yield a unique Core OS-powered device.

(2/2) As an individual end-user, I switched platforms for the app/hw diversity. We will support those users too! Choose what's best 4 u. https://t.co/LKQBL3w7gA(2/2) As an individual end-user, I switched platforms for the app/hw diversity. We will support those users too! Choose what's best 4 u. https://t.co/LKQBL3w7gA— Joe Belfiore (@joebelfiore) October 8, 2017 October 8, 2017

Still, rather than hitting refresh, perhaps Nadella should have recommitted to Windows Mobile. That would have preserved relationships needed for this potential device and Microsoft's broader future vision.

Why the death of Windows 10 Mobile is a good thing

On the other hand, technological shifts toward a more connected 5G and edge-computing future, supported by cross-platform progressive web apps, AI and bots, may transform the dynamic between developers, OEMs, consumers and Microsoft, from what we see with the current the app model.

Only time will tell.

Jason Ward

Jason L Ward is a columnist at Windows Central. He provides unique big picture analysis of the complex world of Microsoft. Jason takes the small clues and gives you an insightful big picture perspective through storytelling that you won't find *anywhere* else. Seriously, this dude thinks outside the box. Follow him on Twitter at @JLTechWord. He's doing the "write" thing!

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578 Comments

Hah! See who is talking, I guess he's feeling the heat from this twitter page. He ain't seen nothing yet cuz I doubt he regrets all these. It's just a gimmick.
Do u camp 24/7 on the site or something so u can reply first in every article?
Lol...love the site ☺
The first to complain anything about Nadella.
Lol
Nadella's method of swinging the hatchet has bought short term gain to the share price now 76.00 but at the expense of long term vision concentrating on Enterprise, Alphabet which is strong in the consumer market has broken 1k per share and is going from strength to strength seems there is money to be made in the consumer market just not from the boneheads at MS.
I have long called it quater to quater thinking. Works for some companies.
Jason Ward is just resisting the inevitable. he writes these wasteful articles about how Windows phones is going to fail or succeed. Just a waste of time reading it and we all are moving on.
Speak for yourself.
Re: aka KSilcox, Who are you talking to?
Hi Kevin, I was talking to Rohan right above me. He said we were all moving on. Not all of us have moved on, yet. :)
No one forced you to read it either.
Jason is my favorite writer here.
I read the article because it was written by Jason.
You call that moving on?😂😂😂😂😂 You're clinging onto every one of Jason's words like a nat on a dogs dic%
Hey why all the hate? I also enjoy reading Jason Ward's articles but recently they're just keeping us "fans" hopeful of nothing out there. And rodneyej I'm with you on this. Up until last week I was actively reading Jason's articles but now they just seem to repeat the same message as in "MSFT screwed consumers and marketing sucks".
I don't mind him repeating what he's saying...
1. It's stirring things up, and that might have a positive reaction on MS.
2. That positive reaction might come in the form of MS trying to ease consumers minds in the form of an intentional comment about mobile to come, or a calculated "leak" about a new device comming...
My point is that something good is gonna come from all of this.
I like your positive thinking. I tend to think so too but probably we are both in denial and our hope is just a mirage. Announcing no more Windows Mobile and after the last two guys using windows mobile, one being you and the other, me, have jumped ship 🚢 coming up with a new thing would be way stupid by even MS' standard!
Having hope, wishing, being in denial, being delusional, and being unrealistic, are all different things... You can want something without knowing if it's coming, believing if it's coming, knowing for sure that it's not coming, or knowing that it might not come... If someone has dreams about something coming does that always translate into delusion? No.
Does someone with hope can't see the reality of a situation if the odds are against them? Is that always the case with everyone? Do we call people who pray for world peace delusional, or stupid? ....
What's wrong with wanting what you want, and saying just that? More so, what kind of person is affected so much by others desires to where they feel a need to shoot down the dreams of others?
........
I mean, seriously... If a Windows fan on WC says they would like for MS to make a Surface Phone why in the world would anyone have anything negative, discouraging, or even rude, to say about that? Who cares? Have we gotten so controlling, and out of priority, as a society to where we're protesting peoples dreams now?? 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Goodness gracious, what was that!!
Me too, for now.
Consumers abandoned Microsoft's Phone, not the other way around. If you can't see a simple thing like this...
It appears that you are right from your point of view. But, let me ask you: Why did the consumers abandoned Windows Mobile? Because of the lack of modern mobile apps that we would use everyday and the lack of support from MS. If MS would hear Balmer when he proposed to let Android apps to run natively on Windows Mobile, the story would be so different. I was a strong Windows Mobile user since my first smartphone (ATT Tilt with Windows Phone 6) and I was resisting to jump off the boat. Finally I did it six months ago and since then I've installed more than 125 apps (and actively use most of them) that I did not have access to before. So, who abandoned what/who? I agree so much with Jason with this article. And it is my opinion that without modern mobile apps the Surface line (probably won't include the Surface Book and Laptop for a little while just yet) is going to disappear (sad). Using Android on a high end phone now, I can say that Windows Mobile 10 is so superior than Android/iOS, but it is almost useless unfortunate.
Hi Rohan I'm glad you like my work, thanks for the support.🙂 I noticed your claim of a repeated message in recent articles. Here are my 8 most recent pieces, and as you can see the topics vary, providing a diverse mixture. And of note very few if any are optimistic pieces to keep fans hope alive. I talk about platform company synergy, personality types in leadership, Microsoft's platform approach, expensive smartphones and the cultural affects that move us to purchase and more: Microsoft and Qualcomm: The architects of an always-connected computing future https://m.windowscentral.com/microsofts-and-qualcomms-platform-strategies-and-next-always-connected-computing-shift (This focuses on the synergy of Qualcomm's and Microsoft's platform company approaches with providing industry tools for the nest stage n computing) Does Microsoft's CEO hate the things you love, or just inefficiency in his business? https://m.windowscentral.com/why-microsofts-ceo-may-be-hardwired-ax-your-favorite-products-and-services (An analysis of the personality type driving Nadella's decision-making) Why a pen-focused cellular Surface Mini tablet would be awesome https://m.windowscentral.com/2017-surface-mini-cellular-pc-core-os-windows-ink-and-whiteboard-makes-sense (A look at a revisit to the Surface Mini using modern tech) Let's be honest, no one really needs a $1,000 smartphone https://m.windowscentral.com/lets-be-honest-no-one-really-needs-1000-smartphone (This piece focused on the motivations that compel people to purchase expensive smartphones, like the iPhone X which starts at $1000, which have not changed in usage patterns.) If Microsoft is the 'platform for everything,' does it really need a phone? https://m.windowscentral.com/microsofts-platform-computing-strategy-may-see-it-power-multi-device-multi-system-world (This piece focuses on the vast cloud and platform strategy Microsoft is focused on.) Microsoft already has the tools it needs to address the Windows 'app gap' https://m.windowscentral.com/microsoft-can-address-app-gap-these-tools-it-already-has (Contrary to many assumptions about this piece it was NOT focused on smartphones but Microsoft's UWP which serves ALL of Microsoft's devices.) How Microsoft's approach to 'Windows Core OS' differs from Google's and Apple's https://m.windowscentral.com/microsofts-andromeda-os-philosophically-different-approach-personal-computing (This is a focus on the difference between Microsoft's singular OS approach for all devices vs Apple's and Google's multi OS approach for devices.) How fathering a son with disabilities helped Microsoft's CEO transform the company https://m.windowscentral.com/how-fathering-son-disability-helped-ceo-satya-nadella-transform-microsoft-through-empathy (A look at how fathering a son with Cerebral Palsy changed Nadella and through that experience, changed Microsoft.)
Nobody is talking about EDGE? This was also a very high bet. Maybe if I could use Chrome on WP I could have delayed my exit from WP to Anfroid. If abandoning WP was a high bet Edge is an even higher BET
😆😂😆😂😆😂😆😂
You're the bigger fool for wasting your time commenting here, then.
🙄
So, summing it up... Windows already have it bad enough with developers, and apps, and now because of MICROSOFT'S poor planning, and lack of commitment, whatever device they come with next will have an even steeper uphill battle than WP7.0 did... SMDH.
That's NOT the direction we wanted to go, Nadella.. 🙄🙄🙄🙄😬
Actually that's the whole plan that devious Joe Belfiore and Terry Myerson have been cooking up this whole time!
This was no apology, it's worse than that. The full quote is, "I would say the realization that in many cases, customers have already chosen to work with you and yet you consciously, or unconsciously, abandon them to go work off on the new shiny object is a mistake I've made recently and in the past. And every time I made the mistake, the good part was I've been able to recognize it fast enough." The critical part is "the good part was I've been able to recognize it fast enough", so he doesn't think he's actually made any mistakes. He was about to make a mistake, but always caught it in time. So Nadella confirms he's made no mistakes, he's perfect. I've had people challenge when say Nadella is arrogant, but under his flowery speech and humble façade is the heart of a blind narcissist. Who starts writing a book about how great and smart they are when just start out as leader? It would be like a rookie player writing (and selling) his Hall of Fame speech.
Wow! Lol. That makes a lot of sense. I'm sure Jason loved reading that one..
Hi infosage, you're right it definitely wasn't an apology. I honestly don't think it was intended to be. He was open enough however to acknowledge an area of weakness and repeated mistakes. Some leaders may have avoided that admission altogether. I had to curtail the fuller quote for the piece. But here's more: "It's tempting in tech to sometimes move onto the next thing. Except we all need to work to help others move with us … and it's something that at least me as a CEO of Microsoft [has to] get right." He does acknowledge its something he needs to get right.
Jason.. Do you just use search on page to see if anyone mentioned your name? I feel as though I can "summon" you. Lol
Lol...No...i just read through most comments and try to reply to some. 😃
Gotcha
Jason, to better understand your writings and analysis. Did you sign an NDA with MS?
Don't you mean the opposite?
Also... Based on Nadella's very cryptic comments... I do see some sign of him speaking of mobile, and mentioning what's next.. I kinda believe he's talking about what's next in mobile.. He can't be so foolish as to not see that mobile is the immediate, near, and foreseeable future. MS can't ignore the device.... The device in your hand(S).
Lol, dont keep up your hopes, the way I see it, he thinks they have missed the bus and cant catch up in any way so he is now betting on mixed reality, which means more n more affordable VR and MR tech, but no surface phone.
But he sank that boat before it sailed.
I'd like to say something but i dont like spoilers myself thus, im just gonna say, being positive in life isn't a bad thing and nothing really ends it just changes form.
See if he stopped taking bonuses. If not, then it's just gimmick.
AI, bots, holographic tech will certainly be a part of the future, but none of that is replacing the pocketable screen as THE personal computing hub. All of those future technologies will depend on the ecosystems they fit into. MS doesnt have an ecosystem any more.
Yes and no when it comes to an ecosystem. It still exists but the primary ecosystem (Windows / UWP) currently it's not seen much uptake. Their services ecosystem is but that is not sustainable. One of the recent ios updates has a "bug" it doesn't sync outlook or exchange accounts for some people. I highly doubt it's a bug, it's a small scale play on mindset. "oh damn my outlook email isn't working, but I need email... hmm what about gmail or iCloud"... Then it would stem from there. Sure, this has stigma attached to it... never the less it's the smart play. It will stay that way as "the smart play" as long Microsoft keeps holding out the silver platter for the competitors by staying out of the consumer space. Thus falling into an era of irrelevancy.
Exactly... like I said, relying on your competitors to do your business is a stupid plan... Windows needs it own mobile stage to perform on in order to provide the best MS experience to consumers... Whatever happened to that?
MS must make a mobile device. End of story.
@rodneyej, there are many of us that have been saying the same darn thing for awhile now. If Microsoft continues on this path, they will have cut off all growth paths sooner or later. When Satya Nadella, my personal feelings where that we would need time to see what he does and how he handles situations. I understand that there are activist shareholders and competing voices. However as a leader, you take all the opinions, facts and figures. Then you carve out a direction that increases profitability. The mark of great leadership is retaining talent whilst increasing profitability. Anyone can reduce expenses through slashing the wage bill. It's simple book balancing. Because that's what's happening right now. By leveraging their competitor ecosystems Microsoft is banking on virtual income, which I mean by utilising little expenses to generate greater net profits. But this is a short term fix, it completely annihilates their own ecosystem. A true CEO would think of multiple pathways, how, where and why they should approach the competition in a certain manner, whilst ensuring that future generations use your products. As it stands Microsoft is being used like a hanker chief. Once it's old and tatty (irrelevant) it will be discarded because it's no longer needed. What happens when a student who has been using chrome o/s all their school life grows up and want's to use chrome o/s at work? Magnify that by a thousand fold. Now Microsoft is irrelevant. I do not see people walking around with head mounted displays because a)it's not safe. b) battery tech will need advance substantially. c)so will cellular coverage to ensure an always on-connectivity for functionality, as if you want a light weight head mounted display, you need to treat.it like a mobile dumb terminal. Because of battery tech and SOC limitations along with heat and safety concerns. Therefore smartphones will always be the defacto point of communication. Unlike Most companies, Microsoft has all the tools and assets to command not follow or fluster in the wind like a discarded hanker chief. I hope Satya, doesn't stay the current course of ignoring consumers. Because he will inevitably be blamed for the downfall of Microsoft. I do not want to see that happen. Because there are so many ramifications' that play in to stereotypical biases' that is currently prevalent and being pushed into the mainstream.
We know. We know. Lol.
Exchange is just bad. It isn't Apple's fault.
You should go read some Apple forums on the issue I mentioned. As I said, you will only see what you want to see.
Why should Apple worry about supporting some competitors outdated technology? They may be exploiting it, but it still is Microsoft's fault for leaving themselves open to such easy manipulation.
@Bleached, where did I blame Apple or say Apple should worry? As I said you will see what you want to see.
Read your comment. "Bug" in quotes, what else are you implying other than Apple did it on purpose? I wouldn't doubt it though. They certainly have done similar things in the past, like make poor drivers so Windows runs really poorly on their hardware.
He never has any positive things to say, even in issues where it's clear cut the fault isn't Microsoft's.
"Exchange is just bad. It isn't Apple's fault." Exchange works perfectly ok on my Android phone.
So? Works fine on my phone too. It still is an old, outdated service that requires some effort to support and can easily be broken.
"Bleached" will not see any sense in this opinion of yours due to a seriously bleached perspective. Truly he only perceives what he wants to.
Microsoft could've piggybacked on the mobile phone the way Chrome, Steam, and iTunes did on Windows. Imagine if Microsoft released a successful line of Windows-powered wearables (glasses, watches, etc.) and IoT home appliances that connected to Cortana and Windows apps on these devices. Samsung is selling Tizen watches with Tizen apps. Fitibit is selling Fitbit OS watches. Amazon is creating an ecosystem around Alexa. Even if Microsoft couldn't win the smartphone battle they still could've sat on top of Apple/Google phones and built a Windows app ecosystem around them. To me it feels like Nadella is giving up on Windows ecosystem because he feels Azure is all that really matters. Azure is incredibly important, but so is Windows. Nadella is playing favorites, every year increasingly rapidly abandoning Microsoft consumers. These "Mixed Reality" headsets shouldn't just be VR, they should be "Hololens" from every major PC OEM. Why are we waiting for Apple/Google to catch up and surpass Microsoft in AR app development? HoloLens debuted in 2015, Nadella wasted that headstart. It is all on him, losing AR and AI war will be 100% Satya Nadella.
Probably a Google or iOS powder such device would work at my home, and Microsoft would not, because Cortana is forbidden here.
There is no excuse why Windows wearables (glasses, watches, etc.) and Windows IoT home devices couldn't have built an app ecosystem on top of Apple/Google smartphones the same way Chrome, Steam, and iTunes did with Windows. After you do that then you eventually shift focus away from the phone (see how smartwatches are getting cellular now). Samsung is building Tizen OS watches. Fitbit is building Fitbit OS watches. Amazon is building an ecosystem around Alexa. Why is Microsoft waiting for Apple/Google to catch up and surpass them in AR apps when HoloLens debuted in 2015? Hololens devices should be part of the Mixed Reality program with every OEM releasing holographic Mixed Reality computers. Instead Hololens is sitting on a shelf at $3K with it's parts and production cancelled with no hardware improvement in almost 3 years and no partners on board to create similar devices. Satya Nadella will take all of the blame, 100% if Microsoft loses the AI and AR war. Fitbit is launching it's first smart wearable in Q4 2017, why couldn't Windows wearables or Cortana be competitive in this wearable space?
Why can't Microsoft sell windows mobile division with its OS to a potential buyer?!
I mean Win10 mobile is too good to be abandoned...
Probably because it's worthless & no one would buy it. Also, they like their mobile patents very much, doubt they'd part with those.
I am certain there are some buyers capable of turning this around. Patents purchase would be negotiable too...if they don't want to develop it why not selling it!
Who?
Trump obviously for spying reasons
Lol Hilary loved spying on people not Trump. Anyways keep the political whining to a minimum and a way from these feeds.
Ha! Putin got you, sucker!
Who is this Trump you talk about? Is he some kind of film actor?
"RohanRonQM Who is this Trump you talk about? Is he some kind of film actor?" A very fat and very stupid man.
Sure, perhaps resurrect Symbian too while they're at it.
WebOS!!!
Port WebTV onto my Motorola RAZR?
Here is a link that shows that there is demand for something of a third ecosystem/OS: https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
and that 3rd ecosystem is so called "Secure locked-down Android" vs normal Android vs Apple
Yeah, hard to picture someone buying it at this point.
Any buyer will eventually fail while waiting for Microsoft to update their OS and working with them to implement new features. The same thing hapened with Nokia. Those guys really used to innovate. It's them who brought stuff like badass cameras, double tap to wake, always on screen (read glance), global equalizer only to have Microsoft delay some of those features for months (it even happened to 950/XL which launched without double tap). This was hapenning at a time when Windows Phone's market share was over 15% in Europe and it looked like it was gaining traction. What did Microsoft do? Focused Cortana, cloud services and most offers on the US where pretty much no one cared about WP. I'm pretty sure Microsoft will never become relevant again with anything consumer related. Looking at how things are progressing with Windows 10, it's safe to say Windows market share will dimininsh in the following years too.
My 950 is a step down from my 1520. Gestures was so cool, so easy, but MS is MS.
There are steps Microsoft can take to stop diminishing as it's not like their coffers have run dry over night. But it must re-engage consumers on a maaaaaaaaaaaaasive scale and they also have to stop focusing on the US.
How do you entice developers without the US?
What?
The big mainstream app developers are in the US. There is a reason Microsoft concentrated on that market. Why do you think the iPhone gets priority? They have tapped into the high end of US market. That is where the money is.
yeah but Windows phones were massively popular in Canada, EU, India, Brazil, and Germany with more than half of the population in each country using WP. Today in most of these countries, people have switched to Android or went back to Blackberry.
Half the population in those countries?! Did you read what you wrote?
They're small countries.
I am Canadian, I can tell you that half the population here were NOT using windows mobile. They were gettting some traction....but the windows phones in the wild were more like 50 -1, not 2-1 .....Stop with the false info.
People buy iPhone in Europe as well to look like they have money, though not as much as US
People buy iPhones because they work well, nothing to do with wanting to look rich.
Exactly crosslad17. People buy well did buy VERTU to look rich. NOT iphone. Every 12 year old has an iphone. NOTHING TO DO WITH LOOKING RICH. I love those comments...They are the funniest. people with iphones buy them to "look rich". btw to those commenters, money is not being rich. Having an amazing life is truly rich.
Actually he is right. In Romania people are so poor that having an iPhone means you are a wealthy person.
The US is not the entire world, there are billions of people out there.
Billions of poor people.
How did you figured out that EU or Canada is poor lol?
hy·per·bo·le hīˈpərbəlē/ noun exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally Actually that wasn't even hyperbole. There literally are billions of poor people in this world. There are very few that aren't poor.
Ok bleached, what do you live in? how many cars do you have? any other toys? travel ALOT? how much land do you own? please tell us how "rich" you are!
No answer Bleached? still in your parents basement I guess......
I didn't say anything about myself. I do fine though. My parents basement is a thousand miles away. It isn't a secret that the majority of wealth is controlled by very few people and in certain regions.
@Bleached, you will only see what you want to see.
You are arguing that the vast majority of earthlings aren't poor and don't tend to live in specific regions?
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
" bleached Billions of poor people." Just by the way, Europe pisses in places older than your country...
When did I say anything about Europe? They have some money, but they are the exception, not the rule.
@Bleached. When you make an all encompassing statement, you by extension include other factors. As I said, time and time again. You will only see what you want to see.
I see poor people with smartphones, all the time. I've seen homeless people charging their iphones outside of grocery stores. It has already been posited that poorer countries use the smartphone more like a home computer than most wealthier populations. Besides FREE apps like SnapChat, YouTube, etc., don't care how much money their users have, traffic is an almost equal value, these days. Now the whole US vs the world thing has been hashed over and over. I very the bitterness, but it is certainly not unique to Microsoft. You develop in your home market. You develop sheets there majority of your users are. The US is the largest smartphone market in the world (at least it was). Percentages are not real numbers of units sold. The US always and significantly lead in total numbers of units sold.
At least a broken leg or small operation does not cost a fortune for those people
Yeah, healthcare here is rediculous.
Have you been to China in the last 10 years? most people have expensive iPhones! 3 years ago Windows phones were readily available though far from common, nowadays you wont find any Win Phones there at all and believe me price was never the issue.
Yup. Apple concentrated quite a bit on China the past few years.
Except in real numbers, more Windows Phones were sold in the US. Percentages don't reflect income. I'd rather have 5% of China than 98% of Guam. Besides, all companies bring things to their home market first. The bigger mistake, in my opinion, was leaving Windows Phone/Mobile/phone with no competitive advantage. The "be everywhere" strategy was flawed. Are any Microsoft apps dominating on iOS and Android? The strategy was was further flawed because they started ignoring their own OS whike asking other developers to support it. Contrary to what the MS haters will tell you, it was about the apps. No, apps wasn't a symptom as one copy/paste wizard will likely rebut. It was always about apps.
It still is all about the apps. That hasn't changed and will not change for a long time. Microsoft's current methodology is absolutely flawed. They are entrenching users in their competitor ecosystems, thus increasing their competitors userbase. Whilst shrinking their own, low userbase, low incentive for developers to be able to monetise not to mention the financial and emotional expenditure and coding hours.
If it wasn't the need for Windows for PC gaming I would have left for Linux ages ago.
MS could split into two companies as HP did. They need a new leadership to head the Windows & Devices that includes a Mobile division. Nadella is a Cloud guy who has no heart or patient to promote mobile. Without a mobile play, the future of UWP and OneWindows ecosystem will be de-stablized. He rushed to kill off WP instead of overhauling the WP operations thru outsourcing and downsizing would kill off the mind share of Wimdows mobile in the market. Even there is an ultramobile PC coming, they should keep supporting W10M 2-3 years after the new product release. It is a crime and shame the way they did.
Time to let it go stop trying to save it, Android/IOS are the future now! sucked if you brought a flagship though aye !
iOS and Android are the present. They are both very mature products and the market is ready for new things. We don't know what those things will be, but they are coming. People gave Apple the same advice you're giving Microsoft, but they came up with iPod.
How would they sell off the Core OS that powers it, Windows 10, Xbox, IOT, etc, etc...
Yes, now it is good. W10M has been refined to a point to where it's extremely functional, and very polished... All it needs is support from SOMEONE!
I agree. Create a Lumia book or Laptop continuem with W indows phone. I am one of the DESERTED Lumia 950 XL loyalists that believe this should be done Windows phone should be able to get apps from Google and/or Apple since MS abandoned app creators. Revive Lunia
Lol. That's not gonna happen... Lumia is synonymous with failure now.
Why do we need more than one mobile EcoSystem?!
Why do we need more than one car maker? Why don't we settle on one OEM?
Why do we need more than one CAD system?
Why do we need more than one bagel shop? We need more than one way to skin cats. We should definitely challenge the 'big man/woman on campus', because they're there. It really shouldn't be a question of why, but why not? If you really need to ask, then let the 'man' (in this case Google) take it all and fold.
I do not get why the world needs a third company. Apple and Google are enough.
I don't get why you wouldn't.
Yep, Ford and Chevy are enough also, don't see why we need other car brands. /s
To extend your analogy, if Ford and Chevy made cars that were so good that virtually no one wanted anything else, there would be no need, or at least no viable business reason, to have other car brands.
The thing is, they won't. Apple holds back on making the best until they can profit from it more, and warrant that price tag. I guess that's fair in business, but consumers suffer!
No, the analogy is actually pretty terrible. If Ford & Chevy had incompatible fuels, couldn't use the same transportation infrastructure & became outdated 18 months after release then you might have a better analogy.
We will probably see this with Mitsubishi and Tesla become the big 2 in the next 10 years with electric vehicles and all the others will be sidelined or collapse
Tesla will be gone in ten years. They've never made money nor ahve they ever delivered anything on time. The only thing that delivers on time is Musk's oversized ego. If it wasn't for government contracts propping them up, they would be gone already. Mitsubishi? That's a hilarious joke.
Bub78 - Now that was terrible, you're placing compatabilites where you want them to make your point, so how about this the fuel for the phone isn't the ecosystem, it's the internet, since car technology doesn't move as fast as phones, 18 months is the equivalent of 7 years. Now please explain your analogy, what infrastructure do ios and android have that they share? What is the "fuel" that iOS and Android share? Every year a new iphone comes out making the previous one outdated, not to mention 90 percent of the time Apple's latest feature comes out 2 years after everyone else has had it. Just because an app isn't available for WM doesn't mean that it's incompatable, it means the Devs didn't make an app. Your counter argument is badly flawed.
Yeah, I honestly don't care enough to explain further.
Haha of course you don't...lol
Yeah lemme take the time to write out 2 dozen sentences about cars & phones, or you know, not do that.
uxo202 gets it!
No, the problem is not the cars, but the fact that all parking slots, fuel pumps, spare parts and most of the roads only work with Chevy and Ford. Owning a toyota is a nightmare as you have to park outside the city and walk in, and that just wont do even if it is better. Nobody knowing it even exists is also a issue.
Serpentbane, great point and good analogy, but Toyota would never succeed if they fold up their tent and leave town.
Jonathan - You are implying that Apple and Google (iOS & Android) are so good that virtually no one want anything else. Even an obvious fanboy like yourself know that that's not true. To further invalidate your point, I would say Lamborgini, Bugati, Ferrari are all pretty damn good brands, yet there is still room for Ford, Chevy, and hell even Kia (no disrespect to Kia) You don't see Toyota, Subaru, or Honda bailing on their customers now do you. If Balmer was as wishy-washy as Satya is, the xbox one line would have never happened because he would have bailed after the original xbox had the red-ring-of-death. So I know you thought your trolling comment was cute, but what it really did was show how limited your thinking is.
Well said!
Nothing is ever "good enough" that no one wants anything else. Innovation happens. Even if the innovation is just efficiency, so that the new competitor can make there same product for a cheaper price. Markets are never static or they cease to be markets.
Microsoft had smartphones before both.
The world need more than a third ecosystem. But you fall In that social trap, like most of the world. For the small conveniences like SnapChat, UberEats and Clash of Clans (questionable investments of time on their own) you allow the two big ecosystems to choke out any competition. webOS? Blackberry 10? and now Windows 10 mobile? all have groundbreaking feature Apple's iOS can only dream of or have only recently copied. Android is an inferior kernel to all of the above, resource-exhaustive and exists only to mine data and push bloatware and Google's data-mining services, lowering security and privacy. "What's the problem?" Please, think about that question, and see how Russia bought millions secretly on Facebook and recently Google, among other things.
Why did we need Google? We already had Yahoo and AOL doing search. We already had Microsoft and Apple doing computers. We already had Microsoft and Nokia, RIM doing phones. Getting the idea?
Wow... just wow. The idea that someone would actively propose a duopoly means that economics need to be taught to a wider audience. Should we only have Verizon and AT&T. Maybe Ford and Chevy should have been there only car companies when they were on top. They were enough. Levi's and Wrangler should be the only jeans options. Ugh.
Each of those examples you cited can exist independently and attract buyers on their own merits. If a car was only good if someone else made gas for it, it wouldnt work without external support. I wish we could have 3 or 4 ecosystems, but the developer community has made it pretty clear that's not going to happen - especially an ecosystem from Microsoft.
Most developers don't really want more than 2 ecosystems. That's why Windows Mobile, webOS, Symbian, etc. all failed.
Symbian didn't fail. Microsoft shut it down hoping the sales for Symbian devices would transfer to Windows phone. Unfortunately, they announced Windows phone 8 before any devices were ready, so killed Windows phone 7, and by the time Windows phone 8 was available, many potential users had switched to Android or iphone. They did the exact same thing with Windows 10 Mobile - killing development of Windows Phone 8 before any Windows 10 Mobile handsets were available. Not only was there a long wait, when W10M came out it was a bug-ridden mess
I'm not all that excited about mixed reality and AI... Really cool technology, and usable in certain applications, but I don't see it replacing my phone for a long time yet (in regards to MR). AI will likely be implemented in my phone one way or another, but I'm already getting dumber with how much I rely on my phone without with out a lot of AI
I agree we are getting ahead of ourselves with AI the way we did with VR in the 90's. I believe in 20 years AI will be unbelievably useful, but in the immediate future it is extremely limited and somewhat gimmicky. Augmented Reality or MR is another story. I believe that is definitely the next major leap over our existing computers. It's going to suck at first like the early mobile phones and PDA's did. But the utitlity is already there right now in HoloLens, the first product ever in this category. The potential for AR computers is easily as big as the PC or smartphone. Unlike AI I don't think it's going to take decades for AR computers to improve to a point where it changes the way we do everything.
You are incorrect. It is already here, but it started on the back end so you do not see it all that well yet.
Shame!!!!!! My 950XL is in pain right now. Ugh, Huawei Mate 10 here I come.
I will inevitably have to switch too. I am thinking about a Huawei too. Particularly the Honor 9. Really shiny :)
Just this week I started having problems with battery on Lumia 950 so I called it a day and ordered an LG G6 because they have the least bloatware and the device looks a bit closer to the Nokia Lumia 1320.
I got an honor 8 a few months ago. Installed Squarehome2 and quite happy!
I have been using Windows mobile exclusively since WM 5. And I started using a honor 8 at the beginning of the year. Once I got used to Android, I'm very happy I chose this phone.
PWAs and full Windows in a mobile PC that can make phone calls is the only hope left. Not that I am holding out hope for something that may be call a Surface Phone or something like that.
Sounds nice, but I just don't trust them anymore.
Haven't you guys seen Satya's new device? It's called the Invisi-Surface by Microsoft and abandoned by Nadella! It's an ultra private mobile device, so much so you can't see or feel it.
Actually Nadella uses and Apple iPhone with all-MSFT apps. he also takes around the Lumia 950XL just for showing how uncommitted he is.
They can't come back, not after this. Any future attempt will fail. No one will care about full windows on a phone if it can't do the now basic stuff that iOS and android can. Thing to remember is, iOS and android have the apps now, not windows.
Apps are a thing of the past, the only app everyone should need / want is a browser. Why would I use the sluggish / heavy battery + data consuming Facebook app when the website can do (or at least could, if Facebook were not some greedy ********) the exact same things ?
I'd love it if more mobile sites were usable...like banks
Spoken like a true windows fanboy. Apps make everything possible while mobile. mobile payements, NFC etc. none of that a website can do sorry!
What are you smoking?! Website can't do mobile payments!?
If every things goes according to what he vision for Mobile market then MS may have a chance to gain something. Windows Phone death has already been predicted when Google didn't show any interest to develop their apps for Windows Phone. MS should have capitalize on how to lure developers to their platform from android and iOS since they have all the things they need for a bright mobile market future but they ignored everything right from the beginning. They should have use the same method that they 30 years back to gain the market share from Mac. But lack of these planning and combined effort of failed business strategy for mobile platform kills any chance of its survival. It's very hard to gain consumers since you have no developers interested in making apps for the platform which didn't have any significant numbers of consumers. Nadella may have tried everything to give life to windows mobile platform but everything seems to go against it. Why would anyone purchase a windows phone when it lacks apps, games and google services?
summarizing the above, Windows Phone failed due to:-
1) Lack of proper initiatives towards the platform.
2) Lack of Google apps
3) Lack of developers interest.
4) Lack of many popular apps.
5) Lack of proper marketing.
6) lack of new features in their new devices ( not including Nokia Lumia here).
7) Lack of consumers interest in it.
I don't think 7 is true, people I know who had a WinPho/Mob device loved them, but I think 4 and 5 was the killer. Oh, and 8) lack of proper MS support.
2) Would've been solved by holding Office apps hostage from Android.
They didn't have Office on Android until 2015. Microsoft didn't really have any good services and only just now are starting to get serious about the cloud. They are so far behind, there really is nothing they could have done or do now.
If MS had had the forsight to giove away the mobile OS when Google started giving away Android, they might have ahd a chance. The didn't seem to have the vision that they could monetize it without charging for it. By the time they started giving it away, OEM's weren't interested. They were too invested in Android by then. They didn't take Apple or Google seriously. Too much hubris.
That may have helped. They also needed some way to get the OEMs excited about their product. Android have them full control over their device and experience. Windows gave them no control and even asked for money upfront. It was a very poor strategy. No forethought at all. Google was playing chess while Microsoft was playing tag.
@Shaheed Malik - And play Googles' games. Sure. But that would drive the largest chunk of the marketshare to Google's tools.
@Shaheed Malik They couldn't hold office back, they tried at first but, eventually it would just allow some competitor to come in and then hurt the cash cow that is office. That's also why they can't sell office on mobile, it has to be free.
5) Lack of proper marketing.
Google apps were never, ever, never going to happen. Not with Eric Schmidt at Google. He went that route once against Microsoft when he was leading Novell...
Google refused to make anything for microsoft because ballmer was doing his "don't get Scroogled" campaign. He made enemies with google and google was like, fine, we won't make crapola for your OS, you need us more than we need your 2% user base. And they were right. Not having ANY possibility of a single google service on windows phone, helped push me away from the OS back in WP 7 / 8 days. its ok to hate google., just don't tell me i have to hate it too.
Haha, lame excuse for poor management. There are people responsible for the fail, but I haven't heard of any replacements. Belfiore is the main person to blame. (hint) Today I was watching some old YouTube video of announcement of iPhone4. There was a cookie graph presented by Steve Jobs showing the market shares, where the Windows Mobile had 16% US market share in 2009/10, while Android was at 9%. Whaaaat?
That was the old Windows Mobile that came before Windows Phone 7.
I know, but pretty big drop of the market share since then = someone failed hardly to meet the targets.
They failed to release a modern smartphone platform in a timely manner and when they finally did, their solution was mediocre at best.
Darkness690 - That was the Mobile OS that should have been Windows Phone 7 had MS not had their heads up their butts.
I said Joe and many others should have been fired years ago with Jay Allar former consumer products CTO/COX. I think Satya and Terry both need to be ousted! Bill might have to step back in.
For those that just grew up, Microsoft at one time dominated the entire mobile device space and lost it.
Like Nokia, like Blackberry. Change or be left in the dust...
Say what? Microsoft never dominated in any segment of mobile.
This. Symbian was king for a VERY long time.
Symbian was awesome. But Nokia failed to keep up. They were working with Maemo. The N9 - MeeGo. Amazing looking phone. Reviews looked good. I thought they had a chance...but nope... Sad they could not continue....
Just like BlackBerry and Nokia. Each of then neglected mobile thinking the phones of that time would never die. Microsoft is the only one of the three that bag too much pride to just make a Android phone with a custom ROM. If BlackBerry can still invest in phones, Microsoft should be able too.
Of course that refreshing the mobile platform so many times damage the Microsoft's image and made it appear as un untrustworthy partner for developers and OEMs. They should have kept alive the Windows 10 Mobile until they will be releasing the next big thing.
Now, even if the next big thing coming from Microsoft will be awesome, gorgeous, stellar everybody will ask themselves: "Is this thing going to last at least for 2 years? Will Microsoft abandon this thing in a year or two like he did with phones?"
If it is just a small tablet-like device with an eSim and runs any windows software, it should be OK. MS needs to get Edge on board with progressive web apps, and they need to get serious with UWPs and update all their built-in apps.
Man Jason, how often can you rewrite the same article? It's really time to leave WC (yes pun) behind as they're falling faster than Microsoft dropped mobile. Windows mobile failed because of one reason and one reason alone, if the company behind a product does not believe in, support or even understand it, it is doomed to fail. Microsoft stacked one mistake onto another with mobile. They completely ignored their stronghold in Europe and Asia while giving full focus to the unbreachable iOS/Droid barrier in the US. Windows Phone was making headway against iOS in Europe and at quite an impressive rate too. IMO MSFT should have played the iOS card with Google to obtain both Google's support for access to Android content (and services). Android is way too far ahead for anyone to catch them, but there was certainly opportunity for MSFT to inch closer to them. But hten again, with their financial interest in Apple, this would have directly impacted them in a negative way. Next up will be Surface Nadella will deconstruct Surface by closing the money faucet slowly but surely. Then they wil spin off Xbox as they already have given their Xbox head huncho his golden handshake by offering him a seat at the (boardroom) table. Nadella doe snot believe in hardware as he does not understand it and he will _always_ gove the shareholders what they want unlike what Balmer did and so it's all about this one thing.. money.. Microsoft will fail at AI/AR/VR as well as they do not have the balls to take the risk and lead. Others will pick up the stick and run with it faster than MSFT can and they will lose .. agian.. Now obviously Windows Central could never play the actual cards as they fall, they are in the exact same boat. The boat that is slowly but surely sinking. MSFT in the end will be just fine as a company with just cloud and Windows but they will return to be the faceless, bland moloch they are. They had their chance, actually several times, but blew it as they simply do not have what it takes to be adventurous.
Actually Paulheu, having only recently (earlier this month) recieved the information about the Sept 27, 2017 Marketplace Corner Office interview (thank you user THINKITTHROUGH for the tip) where Nadella admits abandoning consumers was a mistake he has repeatedly made, it's impossible for me to have written this article before.
Thus the title: "Microsoft CEO admits repeatedly abandoning consumers was a mistake"
AS Ive stated before, MS is the only company that can successfully jump the technological curve and still land behind the competition.....impressive!
AS I've stated before, MS is the only company that can successfully jump the technological curve and still land behind the competition.....impressive!
AS I've stated before, MS is the only company that can successfully jump the technological curve and still land behind the competition.....impressive!
AS I've stated before, MS is the only company that can successfully jump the technological curve and still land behind the competition.....impressive!
AS I've stated before, MS is the only company that can successfully jump the technological curve and still land behind the competition.....impressive!
Come again?
@SeeVuPlay - I'd give you a thumbs up but I can't decide which one to give it to.
😂😂😂
Windows Phone wasn't making headway in Europe. They had one device that picked up some marketshare, but that didn't equal many sales since they were small markets. Sales also dropped immediately. The people that bought the L520 weren't interested in buying another Windows phone. Only fanboys liked Windows phone. Everyone else rejected it.
My dad, liked windows phones...he isn't a fanboy. He uses the Iphone.
"He uses an iPhone"
to reiterate....he likes windows phones.
But he obviously likes the iPhone better.
But your statement that only fanboys like Windows Phones is completely wrong ....just pointing that out
Ok, very few people other than fanboys liked Windows phone.
Too late, you already lost credibility with the broad sweeping assumptions
hy·per·bo·le hīˈpərbəlē/ noun exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally
@bleched " but he likes iPhone better" ~ no. he likes a phone that has support from the company who makes it.
Exactly, he liked iPhone better.
Wrong.
You have any data to show any meaningful increase in sales? Actual sales, not percentages of some small market.
Europe is a 500 million people big market so I don't think that's a small market at all. Bigger than the US obviously.
Ok, then where are all these European sales? Why didn't it affect worldwide numbers at all?
That is why world share reached 4%. And yeah, Europe has long ceased to be the center of the universe
The highest sales were 10.5 million with 2.7% of the market. There were other quarters where the % was higher, but sales were lower.
Not true. Actually after the 520 i equipped my family with 635, 640, and 830. And i have owned an 830 and then a 950xl since...
Not true. Windows phones were reaching 10% market share in some markets. That's more than just fanboys. Plus many government agencies were selecting windows phones for security reasons. The notion that it wasn't making headway is just a lie. It faltered because MS failed to release any new compelling hardware to entice new buyers.
It wasn't making headway. Look at actual sales numbers, not percentages of some small markets. Percentages do not tell you the whole story.
Nor do the actual sales numbers, consistently the demand for Lumias exceeded sales in Asia and Europe, they could have capitalized on it.
Satya apologists annoy me the most
The more I see his management style the more I realize that he has no idea what he's doing in terms of long term goals.
He has no dream or overarching vision. Great! - he made stock holders some money. Literally any effing body can do that in his position. What he fails to see are the longterm effects of his short term decisions. It's frustrating to see for a company I was quite overzealous about at a time
I haven't seen any apologists here today. Only some "We told you so!"'s. I will say I did defend the guy from time to time but now, after buying into the hardware and software game from Microsoft and then finding out later, they scrap it anyways.
I haven't seen it today either. They've prob hushed up in light of this article lol. But I've seen it time and time again in previous articles. People hanging about in a burning house while walls fell down around them and ash filled their lungs, smh. I understand why people weren't happy with Ballmer. He made mistakes. But he had passion and he truly seemed to care about Microsoft. The reason we are all consumers of this company's MODERN products is from what Steve pushed
Thank you for speaking the truth about Ballmer & Satya pushing things Ballmer already implemented or on his product roadmap. WC was giving this guy credit for a lot of Ballmers work!
I'm not really a Satya apologist, but I dont blame him for what happened to Windows Phone. In hindsight, I'm convinced it was doomed from the beginning. They sat on the old Windows Mobile WAY too long with no innovation after the iPhone and Android had taken off, established their stores and ecosystems for apps. I honestly dont think there was anything MS could have done to get back in the game. They were too far behind and too many people in the market hated MS anyway and werent willing to give them a shot at anything. Satya was just the guy that had to make the decision to pull the plug, but WP had been brain dead for a while already.
As much as he had to pull the plug on Balmer's bad decisions. What was left was probably fixable to an extent. Satya decided to scrap it. This so reminds me of when I had my Palm Pre. WebOS was a great OS on very underpowered hardware. Then we get them bought by HP. Everyone was excited to see real hardware matched to the os. After all that there's a board shake up and we get Apotheker as head. Where did he come from Enterprise and servers. What did we get, oh we are committed to WebOS and its future. Only to see that it was all a lie and have it sold to LG. Satya is just like this but on steroids. It's sad really.
Glad I'm not one of them because after year one he needed to be fired or put back in charge of the cloud department and someone else put in charge!
Microsoft reminds me of IBM. Once, IBM was known for their computers, but then they changed focus from the individual to the corporation. Microsoft did the same thing. Once, they held conferences announcing new operating systems and individuals went to the conference. Now it seems like they focus on corporate software and nothing that gets in front of the average user. What really hurts is that people buy what they know. If theysee Google and Apple apps/hardware/software everywhere, people are not going to buy Microsoft.
IBM was always focused on corporate sales (mainframes). They dabbled in PCs for a few years, but then got out.
I agree, IBM now has declining revenue, because to the ordinary person, IBM has no relevance at all. With MS targeting enterprise and neglecting individual consumers, I just can't see them staying relevant. Additionally, the important thing to note is the smartphone/mobile market has been led directly from consumers, and not enterprise.
Just as Google's Chrome was a trojan horse on Windows, Microsoft needs to build an app(s) on Android and iOS that consumers fall in love with and can't live without. So when it comes time to launch a new category of devices they can draw from that loyal consumer base to use their new product.
And users on Android and iOS simply replace MS services with Google's and Apple's. No big deal.
But neither has Windows on PC, albeit some can run it. If the current Windows users can use their MS stuff on either mobile platforms, they will be ok.
Yet MS still makes the industry standard enterprise software. I definitely did not replace my MS software with Google.
As more consumers are familiar with Android - it will get into the business place. Google can get into cloud services easily. Integrate with it's huge number of mobiles and one day, the mobile OS will become the business OS. MS was king because the dominated the desktop - all applications had to be written for it to exist. I think we will see the opposite now that mobile is king. MS has to get into mobile to stay relevant - even with business...
WP had no developer to speak of and there was 0% chance of it ever challenging Android or iOS. MS missed the mobile train and at this point there is nothing they can do to overcome the app gap. You can create the greatest OS known to man, but without apps the platform will be DOA. Nadella made the obvious,and sensible,business decision to pull the plug.
That just doesn't look true to me - WP had significant market share and was growing for several years. Apps were coming over fairly regularly and MS put a lot of energy into its Xamarin purchase and development. They lined everything up to continue growing the phones, but just didn't deliver. Certain apps were noticeably missing, but it remained a viable platform for many people and was even quite popular in a number of countries outside the US. Its demise seems engineered by the current CEO. Ballmer would have doubled down on the Nokia purchase and pushed Windows phone hard and all of the other developments could have kept developers on board and continued its slow, steady growth. From this armchair analyst's view, the whole thing failed simply because Satya wanted it to. He didn't want to have purchased Nokia and it was his intention to crater the whole enterprise. And it looks to me like a huge mistake. Though AR and voice-controlled computing may be a big part of our future, the phone is still going to be the bridge to that future. And that means Google and Apple (and maybe Amazon) are going to be there, stealing what they can from Hololens and MS will lose its consumer business altogether.
No doubt the company will be fine and will continue to make tons of money, but they lost my loyalty.
WP gained decent marketshare in several TINY markets due to selling cheap (aka low or no margin) phones like Lumia 520, 640 etc. Meanwhile, they failed spectacularly in the biggest markets such as US and China. The mobile division was a money pit that was unlikely to turn a profit anytime soon (if ever); Bellifore even said that they had a PAY developers to make WP apps. Nadella's job is to make Microsoft as profitable as possible, and I'm sure that he was under pressure from shareholders to cut the dead weight. I'm guessing that the Xbox is next on the chopping block, and I would be shocked if MS releases another console after the One X.
Nadella's management decisions are definitely defensible - but I still think a mistake. Certainly, I'm not qualified to see the future or manage a multinational corporation, but even with phones being a money pit, it's one of those investments that look to me like a necessity, like Bing was. Bing is much more than just a website - it's the search infrastructure and tech at the heart of MS Cloud computing. Phones are similarly an essential component in having a consumer-focused business ... it should have been pursued doggedly, even at the losses it was accruing.
Europe has 750 000 000 people, that's a bigger market than US. Time to put some Europeans in the MS Board!
Why? Do European countries need Americans on their boards?
If you pretend to be a global player you'd better have people in your Board that are connected to the different regions you want to serve, so that also goes for Asia-Pacific, China etc.
I generally agree with what you say but really, you're ignoring the fact that Europe has twice as many consumers as the US. In Europe Nokia was doing much better than in the US. The US market was at the mercy of the phone carriers so MS, under intelligent management, would have dropped the US and focussed on Europe. Yet another dumb Nutella decision.
WP never had significant market share. They only barely made double digits in a handful of places on cheap phones. To get developers, they would have needed 25% or more at least, and users that spend money in the app store. Those budget phone buyers were never going to drive app development.
People used to say that about the original Xbox, but then MS went out and paid for great games. It wouldn't be that hard for a company with massive cash reseeves to get, what, 150 to 200 top apps and games. But this never happened at MS because too many people who were supposed to be shaping technology of the future would rather see iOS and Android be successful rather than their own product. Maybe it's a symptom of their hiring practices and cost cutting, but too many people who work at MS don't actually like the company.
Explain me how developers could have ever been motivated to create new apps for the platform after Nadella sold the complete mobile department to Foxxconn in 2015, not making any new model since ... And completely abandoning the consumer market, going for business only. And silence for 2 years from MS, resulting in speculation everywhere, like the guy who wrote this article here. And abandoning reputational devices like the Lumia 1520... I tell you. This is going to hurt Microsoft for the coming decades. TRYING VERY HARD? Sorry, but that is just a lie. Many consumers will try less hard buying Microsoft hardware from the Surface line. The best advice for Microsoft is to release a surface phone that does not look like a phone but is the ultimate device.
After going through a frustrating week of having to decide which phone to move to because my 1520 is officially dying and recieving news that I would essentially be wasting money by buying another Windows Mobile phone as they are pulling the plug, this is cold comfort. MS has very deliberately started funneling their fans to other platforms this past week and it's very upsetting because I truly love and enjoy Windows Mobile and have used a variation of it for the past 10+ years. They should have kept it going until they had something else to offer verus, "whelp we're pulling the plug, go give your money to someone else and we hope you'll like whatever we bring out in the future, IF we decide to bring it out." I want another Windows device for mobile but I can't make an informed decison without information. Sad times.
You're sad now but believe me, once you move to a stable and stress free phone you'll be happy. I think part of the reason we stick around following window phone news as a hobby/passion is because we are constantly yearning for iterative improvements. Believe me when I tell you that windows phone had always been a beta test. With the other phones, you're getting a complete experience and won't need to look for the chabgelogs every few weeks. You'll have a complete phone with you. You'll likely follow phone news less and less. It be a hobby you grew out of because u won't have a phone you need to babysit all the time like window mobile 10
You are only partially right. I truly love technology and I keep up with the news here because I like it so much. I love Windows Mobile for what it is but I am willing to give other things a shot with the caveat that I am going to very picky about the phone I get. It'll have to be an Android as the one-button design of iOS makes me want to throw it against a wall but I also know the parts of Android that I don't care for and I'm not looking forward to tweaking it in an attempt to give me the exact experience I want. Trust and believe that if MS were offering me something new right now with full Windows and a stylus to follow up my 1520, I'd be all over it. However, since I only have hints of what they are working on with Windows on ARM and CShell, I have to pick up something else. I'm not bitter or angry - that takes too much energy - just a little heartbroken because I have to give up something I love.
I've been on Android for a year now, full time since the S8 came out. I can honestly say, I would go back to my windows phone in a heartbeat if it had the same apps and a future. My windows phones were always stable and reliable (except when I got on preview builds). I was never unhappy with the OS as a whole and I still prefer it to Android. It just doesnt have apps.
I've recently been on Android and had to go through the growing pains of my mom switching to iOS. I can honestly say that it is not stress free and definitely not stable. I keep having to reboot the Galaxy S7. Even the iphone needed a reboot every week or two. I can only remember Windows Mobile 7.5/8 being so stable that I'd go months without a reboot.
I guess mileage may vary
I agree with your comment, but here we both are in other ecosystems still reading W10 mobile news lol... Hard habit to break
...whenever I can I'll leave my L950 and I'll move to Android. I'm done with this. It doesn't make any sense to support something useless anymore.
I wouldn't call it useless. My L950 is still kicking. Although the loss of Groove Music Pass hurts.
indeed
Who will buy MS product except company who use Office and cloud. MS will be next IBM and after short time success in B2B market, they will slowly be lost like IBM does.
I stuck with my 920 as long as I could (almost 3 years), hoping for MS to release something wothy. The fact that it was hard enough to get a 920 din't help. The providers didn't offer them, and when they finally did get some in stock, he employees knew nothing about them and actively discouraged anyone from buying them. When MS failed to do anything to keep me as a customer, I finally switched to Apple (after resisting for years). I'm very happy with my iPhone. I still think Windows Phone/Mobile was a better OS on the surface, and on iOS 11 and iPHone 8 I'm finally getting some features that I had on my 920 (wireless charging and email transcriptions to name a couple). But iOS still can't do everything that I was able to do very easily and happily on WinPhone8.
It's clear that MS has no idea how to relate to the average consumer. They cancel products and services without thinking twice and assuming that consumers just have money to throw around to buy new products and services They aren't accountable for their mistakes or give clear messages as to which direction they are going in. There were rumblings since last year that WM was going to be killed off yet no one came out and gave an official word other than crap about "being committed to mobile". Even with this entire WM10 debacle we never got a clear statement aside from tweets from Joe, nor did we get any sort of apology for leading consumers on. Would be nice if the people that bought 950 or 950 XLs could get some kind of compensation or at least an apology. The products they do release these days are pointless - the Surface studio is only for a niche audience, and the Surface laptop is overpriced for what it does. At a time when Chromebooks are getting popular they should not abandon the lower end or middle of the market. When they do have good ideas they are late to the market and other companies beat them to the punch. They seem to care about users of other platforms more than they do about users of MS' own services. Putting the best features of Windows on other eco systems isn't magically going to bring people over to MS. Instead it will just make them more comfortable with iOS or Android since they can get the best of both worlds.
I completely agree.
I'm totally agree.. I think Microsoft should at least try to listen to us once.. Before abandoned windows phone platform totally.. You blame us not to buy you phone.. Which leads to no sales.. But there are no wow factor you put into the phone.. Please used all the technology you bought from Nokia.. Be wise after spend a lot of money to buy it.. If you used 42 mega pixel camera to your phone added with latest hardware spec and picture apps together with support with cloud that can save up to 1-10 million pictures.. That is marketing.. Sadly Microsoft.. You never listen.. You think you are better than us, your business partner and competitors. I think HP produced Window phone better then you.. Even Bill Gate lost hope and use android platform on his phone.. Sad..😢
Very good comment @squire777 and agree to most of it. My bottom line is I wish MS would buy back or pay off what I have left to pay on my 950. Of course I don't expect any company to do that. The sad thing is I have to leave a platform I prefer while forced to figure out which of the two I dislike the least. I honestly don't know which direction I'll go; IOS or Android.
Yet they keep making the same mistakes, over and over and over. They are better off waiting 10-15 years to appease the next generation of consumers and developers who have no history of being let down a dozen times.
Every time I see an article like this it just leave me scratching my head how a "tech giant" like Microsoft abandons the largest market on the planet, mobile. Even my 85 year old mom relies on mobile and MS turns it back. Yeah, short term the shareholders are making money, but long term I think this could be the beginning to the end for Microsoft. Yes, it could be a long time before that end, but the end has to start sometime.
All giants fall...
You probably have no chance to become Microsoft's CEO. Mobile is not the biggest software market in the world. It is actually fairly small, though still offers chances to earn few billions for the operating system company, so it is not something that should be ignored by a big company, just if you ask whether it is normal that other things were priority, yes it is. Unless Microsoft also got more into the hardware like Apple, then it would be a real big market.
Mobile is small?? This is an article from 2014. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/there-are-...
Market is measured by money, not by people, otherwise India would be the most attractive market in the world, but it is not. So there isn't too much money in the mobile - currently there is no company that earns even a dollar by selling operating systems. So it comes to the cut from the sold apps, which is for the last year around 10 billion and then also for paying to promote your services (currently Google pays Apple 3 billions, but as it doesn't pay to itself let's say it is something like up to 10 billions). There are many companies in the world that sell software for more than 20 billion dollars (including Microsoft). So overall mobile operating system revenues are not much more than 1% percent of overall software revenues, and while it is still not small, you know... there are also those 99%.
OS run on devices and are device restrictive (can only run the os for which it was intended) devices cost money that includes royalties and use of the os (the things you agree to when OSes are first setup). While actual revenue from direct OS purchase may not be as impressive market share matters. Balmer got it right when he wanted to populate users with inexpensive and fully usable handsets which bumped up the share to 4% world wide and around 15%in Europe only to be divested by Nadella
That was the most stupid decision except for leaving the market. There isn't a single company in the world that earns a dime by selling very cheap phones. Not even Chinese. So the more you sell the more money you throw in. And devs don't care for users that buy 100$ phones. Simply because they never pay. Advertisers don't care either, you'll get one dime a click for them. So it wasn't completely stupid as long as it was the only way to stay in the race until you figure out something better. But in general it was a culmination of stupid moves at that time. And there are no royalties. Except if you paid sometimes after accepting agrements, but if you did, please tell us what?
You are just wrong. Microsoft makes billions every year from the sale of the Android operating system.
You just don't understand the difference between the 'patent' and 'operating system'. Those are very different things, actually they have nothing in common.
It remains to be seen just how high a price Microsoft pays for these series of mobile missteps.
Glad I left to jump onboard the Android platform.
I switched because I needed too, not because I wanted too. However, there are a considerable number of things missing in Android as a basic function that Windows Mobile had built in for years. Android is not all that great, even though it was either that or an expensive iPhone with no way to use the MS apps by default.
With great sadness, I powered off my Idol 4s for the last time last night and shortly aftert powered on my Note 8. I do not regret the decision, but I still do not like to android OS look and feel but It is very refreshing to have a feature filled OS and a much larger app gallery, but more importantly, apps that work well. What Microsoft lost is more than a windows mobile customer. I am not going to handicap my android experience by using a gimped cortana and bing this go around. Google assitant works pretty flawlessly responding to "OK google", unlike the inconsistentcy of "hey cortana" on my Idol. I am still using one drive, one note and outlook.
You don't even have to say "hey Cortana", so, there's that. I always get good responses on my Idol.
This whole "cloud first or nothing" push will eventually backfire and they will float into abyss. There is a reason why most tech companies are moving into consumer market. Clearly Microsoft doesn't see it.
Very true. Still hope Xbox is not yet another division to be dropped.
I cancelled my xbox one X preorder.....Good Job Microsoft. You cannot be trusted.
I have 2 Windows Mobiles and I am still eyeing for an HP Elite X3. Things will just get brighter and beautiful after this last major downhill.
Why even would they drop the already established product? We as consumers are being misled by Paid Media(In India, we call them Presstitutes) regarding Microsoft. At least I have noticed this and I was researching and then found out like Media agencies get paid for biased news. How many news outlets have put negative news about Swelling batteries issue of some phone manufacturer? Even that company has the major stake in that segment of the industry? Very few. This adds one more reason why Microsoft struggles in consumers market. Microsoft tries to play fair and their competitors equivalently dirty.
At this point, you could say Microsoft is autistic from time to time.
@cryio....My son has autism. He has more commitment, vision, drive, passion and focus than this assclown running microsoft. Before slinging the "A" word around, try doing some research.
Yeah, some of the analogies in these comments are beyond the pale. There's one down below comparing windows phone users to domestic violence victims... It's just a phone people, maybe leave cancer, autism, spousal abuse out of the commentary?
I see autistics as a gifted people to humanity. They are more beloved and more welcomed. Thanks for your comment. It shows that how truly you think that Microsoft is more welcomed and beloved company than their competitors.
I will use my X3 until it's dead. Then I hope Microsoft phone are on their feet again.
You know what they say. Hope in one hand s h I t in the other.
We were told that Microsoft was compremetida with Windows 10 mobile and now we leave the users side, Microsoft Lords as you want to grow the quota if you do not sell phones and does not enough marketing and the developers are going other platform RMs. The culprit is Microsoft
We were told that Microsoft was compremetida with Windows 10 mobile and now we leave the users side, Microsoft Lords as you want to grow the quota if you do not sell phones and does not enough marketing and the developers are going other platform RMs. The culprit is Microsoft
The culprit is Microsoft for marketing and manufacturing phones. Po example Microoft Flow only in Ios and Andorid in W10M not this
The thing that frustrates me the most about this is how the company was so secretive about its vision for Windows on phones; or lack thereof. Everyone was writing about the death of Windows Phone/Mobile, whilst fans were sticking up for it, and Microsoft simply ignored anything about it. Now, years later, we hear how much the people in charge hated it. Then they get all defensive when the backlash is real. Personally, I'd return to Windows mobile if they had a decent offering on Verizon. Android simply cannot compete on the core functionality and integration of multiple accounts. And Apple is amazing but I can't sell my soul to them.
I will never trust Microsoft again in the mobile area. I started with Windows CE 1.0 and went through all of the different iterations of mobile software that Microsoft shipped. I ended up with a Lumia 950 running Windows 10 Mobile. When the camera started to fail on the Lumia 950 I thought whether I was going to get it fixed (it was out of warranty) or migrate to Android. I chose to go with a Nokia 6 (running pure Android 7.1.1) and use Microsoft apps on it. It works perfectly, we get updates each month that don't cause problems on the phone. Even the camera on the Nokia 6 is really good, maybe a few issues in low light. Microsoft, you will have to do something really good and stick with it to get me back. You have lost a loyal customer in my and I am certain that there are many millions doing the same. Regards Infinidim
ITS A VERY BIIIIIIIGGGGG MISTAKE!!! HE SHOULD READ ALOT OF BOOK!!!
Why did they move to Windows 10 mobile, when they knew the Windows 10 OS was not good to go? Why did they not keep windows 8.1 for phones going, releasing new phones on that OS instead of 950 on windows 10? There are things I found on my 928 8.1 phone that my 950 W10M still cannot do? If Microsoft is going to spend lots of money building iOS and Android apps to link Microsoft services to these OS, why wouldn't they do the same for W10M? Nadella is a cloud guy, which is the strong growth future for Microsoft. But that does not make him good on the PC or a smartphone or understand anything about the consumer. Thus, he was biased for Azure and various cloud initiatives. Let's also not forget to recognize Intel's inability to deliver a competitive x86 chip for mobile. They have only just started releasing a modem the market (apple) likes. This has had to have had a big impact on Window 10 and its mobile ambitions.
As a famous man once said, "the evidence is incontravertible." A fan and loyalist since the first Samsung Focus, I'm not sure what to think of any potential refresh. It seems entertainment and software are what Microsoft can handle (and precariously, at best, if you consider their bungled XBOX messaging over the years). I will watch and see!
So he admits it? Admitting apparently isn't keeping him from doing over and over again. It seems he does not consider the consequences and we consumers are the ones paying the price. But why not as long as Microsoft keep raking in the $$$. Yes, I am a disgruntled Microsoft phone owner who paid a premium price for a premium phone and is getting shafted by Microsoft once again. I have been Microsoft everything since the DOS days, not anymore. I just got my android phone and my subscription to WPS office. So long Microsoft.
Nadella is the worst CEO in the history of Microsoft, from a consumer point of view of course. Just a fool without vision and strategy thinking from day to day. He will destroy MS. He had cynically deceived loyal fans of W10M.
Every time they announce that they will drop a certain service / hardware, I feel like a big "F U" in my face... I was a loyal fan until they discard W8, W10, and MS Band 2... The really really sad thing is that for a while ago, I was still defending for W10M and truly believed that MS had something cool they are working on. Now, No ******* thing. Jesus, all that money spent on MS's hardwares... I am going with Nokia 8 next year.
With the way they treated windows mobile and developers, it is going to be a real problem when (or if) they actually release this "andromeda" thing. Developers may see it as a new platform, and knowing how MS dumped windows mobile, they are going to be afraid to put any work into software for andromeda, for fear it will be dumped a year or two down the road.
Soooo, back out of mobile which is something that literally people in every corner of the planet use, or need, but jump onto some super-niche, iffy at best crap like VR? That sh*t just doesn't add up.
@Sean D. I completely agree. I just can't see how MS will stay relevant in the consumer space as a result of this, even if they re-enter with 'what's next' and more to the point, they're definitely missing something when a lot of the industry is targeting consumers rather than enterprise.
Huh. Well, I started getting angry with Mr. Softy when they screwed over we Surface RT owners. Just dropped us like a hot potato. Now the Lumia owners are cut away to sink or swim. And no Surface Phone. I will keep my Lumia 950 XL until it goes belly up. Bought a spare battery. After that, who knows. But I'm NOT keeping using it out of loyalty to MS - rather, because I like Windows 10 Mobile and the phone remains almost as capable as most other handsets out there.
Nah he is just paving the way of killing "the shiny new thing" in a few months to a year, again citing no developer interest. The WMR headsets i mean.
One thing Nadella failed to realize is In professionals want simplicity and with a BYOD business they have choice in the products used. If Microsoft doesn't have a consumer precense then employees would need to keep track of two ecosystems instead of one meaning more work and complexity. With Microsoft nearly out of the consumer space businesses are feeling less inclined to use other Microsoft products because of the increased complexity. Professionally I have already been seeing a shift away from business even requesting MS products just for that reason and less interest in MS products when I propose them to clients. If this trend keeps up, there will be little to no need for our consultants to even know Microsoft products. In fact, in our consulting firm I am the only one left with knowledge and there is no push for others to train. Nadella had to get that message or they will relegated to be the next IBM as others have said.
Look inside most of our elementary schools. There is virtually no Microsoft presence. The kids are seeing a daily dose of Apple and Chrome. They will never have any loyalty (or even knowledge of) to Microsoft going into the future. Business is going to change as these kids age.
I've been in education since 1984. That was more true in the 1980's than it is today. It never translated to consumer sales for Apple computers. In fact, without the iPhone Apple would be a struggling little company
He called a a rejected platform and yet at 1 point, there were as many windows phone users as there are Mac users. I don't see anyone calling Macs a rejected platform. Windows and MD is in serious trouble because he left the only market that matters. It matters to consumers, to developers and to windows while ecosystem. There is no recovering from this.
Satya is a regular Sherlock. If only HP had its own mobile platform. Something built on Java that would be extremely open... wait.
They are still abandoning consumers, see Groove Music Pass
yes, it was the best music service out there, now I don't know where to go, all the other service habe a flaw... spotify don't allow personal library, google music don't have a PC apps, you have to use a third party apps, and apple music... well, it's apple..
I'm a 20+ year developer, and I had three different windows phones for over 6 years. I recently went back to an iPhone 8, and will now likely never go back to Windows on a pocket device. They had more than a fair chance, and now they are done. It's now over, and they will suffer the market consequences for many years to come. Please do yourself a favor, and get either an iPhone or Android device. Considering phones are what will power VR/AR, especially as they get more and more powerful, the desktop is not where mixed reality will reside in the long term, so Microsoft has set itself up for failure there as well. At least they have Azure...
MS waited way too long to get serious about the mobile platform. This let users make either Apple or Google that strong hold in their needed mobile lives ... which in turn dug a whole way too deep for MS to get out of. But, they still had a base of faithful users that they have completely abandonded which was absolutly the worst thing they could've done. I've never had a any other smart phone but a Microsoft mobile OS. I searched (and still do and I don't know why) every day looking for the next MS mobile phone ... such a waste of time. Poor marketing, poor execution, and just not paying attention to what users really needed until it was way too late. I feel like they believe they're the trend setters of the industry and everybody will just follow them. That's the way it was back in the day of Bill Gates, but those days are long over ... and it's their own fault. Now, MS is no longer a inovative company. It's a follower and they don't want to admit it...sad. Without a mobile platform of their own ... their future is limited if not over. They've completely ignored the most faithful consumer base of the company. Now, we're having to move on. MS wake up!!! If you didn't have MS Office ... you'd be nothing be an ancient memory in anals of computer history. You won that battle because of the staple applications of Word & Excel, things people use everyday (like mobile phones of today), was a market you got into very early and stuck it out. Phones arent't he new shiney objects anymore but that doesn't mean they're not relevant. They will be around for a very long time and if you don't understand that ... well, it's obvious you don't. You've even way over engineered Visual Studio so much that VB & C# are no long intuitive and much more confusing to use and develop in. Was that a marketing ploy also? Do something so completely different that everybody will keep buying the new versions ... I understand security needed to be stepped up, but you all did not take a practicle view of what is truly intuitive. Go ahead and pull the arm of the compting slot machine and cross your fingers. You might get lucky ... but I'm not betting on you any more. I'm shocked how the Surface tablets are doing. There had to be many outside influences to help with marketing that. Congratulations, you got lucky. For me ... it's time to move on.
It was over when Google gave Android away for free and Microsoft kept charging for Windows Mobile. Andoroid's dominance as the most prevalent OS on the market was built on that, and the "App Gap" grew as a result of that.
Absolutely correct. MS didn't have the foresight to see that they didn't have to sell the OS to monetize it. Too much hubris. OEM's wisely took the choice of the free OS over a paid one. By the time MS started giving it away,OEM's were invested in Android and had no incentive to look in any other direction.
I know a lot of people want to blame Nadella, but that fault is on Balmer. The ship was already torpedoed by the time Nadella got the helm. The only thing he could have done at that point was to discount hardware, but after the billion dollar Surface RT write-off he would have been crucified if Microsoft had to undertake what basically would have been another write off to discount hardware (i.e. sell high end phones at mid range prices) in an attempt to encourage adoption. If Microsoft had put the entire $7B they spent on Nokia towards additional phone subsidies, lets say they could have made what was normally a $200 phone a free phone. That works out to 35M discounted (to free) phones. Apple does that in a single quarter, so even this desperation strategy would likely have failed.
Maybe if he'd actually listen to the Windows fans, this could have been avoided. He retrenched Windows Phones exactly when it was gaining momentum with Lumia 930 and Lumia 1520. Instead of capitalizing on that, he stopped making Windows Phones at all. Going to business users was literally following Blackberry to its grave. And partial credit goes to Windows Central, WinBeta too. They stupidly justified every move of Microsoft instead of criticizing it. That fanboy attitude also helped killing Windows Phones
C u next tuesday
Then throw us a carrot and make Messaging Everywhere work.
MS its late but not completely out of race. Learn from mistakes and grow with concepts not with words.First and most important, build products/services for each and every person. Every professional is consumer but not every consumer is professional who builds, design something. I think Windows 10 as OS should be friendly with all types of nature. Consumers need free or less pricy option. They don't expect any big features. They just want a simple product/service which fulfils there dreams. Give consumers less pricy OS. Next segment is a combination of consumer and professional. Many people wish for single product / service which perfectly blends there all needs. Third category is pure professionals. I noticed MS focused more and more on this third segment. I think MS should learn from google and apple. They need to be serious on there each and every commitment.
This is BS and not even an apology. He is simply kissing us out the door that rat
Of course that refreshing the mobile platform so many times damage the Microsoft's image and made it appear as un untrustworthy partner for developers and OEMs. They should have kept alive the Windows 10 Mobile until they will be releasing the next big thing. Now, even if the next big thing coming from Microsoft will be awesome, gorgeous, stellar everybody will ask themselves: "Is this thing going to last at least for 2 years? Will Microsoft abandon this thing in a year or two like he did with phones?"
The general consensus seems to be mobile is an essential component to any future. PC market is diminishing; tablet market is diminishing... MS, however, feel differently? Consumers? Don't need them. Enterprise is everything. Maybe, but 'Enterprise' is ultimately collective of consumers. Consumers that nowadays exist around a mobile ecosystem. In the course of my day I shall speak to clients. Almost always on their mobile - probably 99% of calls other than to other companies are made to, and received from mobiles. Emails? On their mobiles. PC? Haven't got them. So, MS, wake up. Mobile is the future, and not just for consumers. Why did users 'go off' the Windows Mobile as a solution? In my experience because too many didn't even realise it existed due to a total lack of marketing. Where am I going in the future? No idea. My 950XL still works and I like it and the W10M approach. However my contract expires in the next few months so I shall just keep my options open and see what happens. Somehow I don't see MS as wanting me in any future. After all, I'm 'only' a consumer!
There is was one path forward as I see it. A low cost, touch device, similar to the Surface. Windows is famous for still being Windows even on a low end cheap as piece of plastic. If people see the REALLY low cost alternative that gets them in the touch game, with the responsiveness of their smartphone, and a keyboard to flip over when they need it, a little marketing could go a long way for a device such as this. A $299 Surface with 64GB, keyboard included, could do the job IMHO. So what if it lost money, it would sell like crazy and introduce another touch paradigm the one where we don't go full screen to full screen, where we have acutual WINDOWS we can snap and move. Something we can print from, and something that doesn't suffer from poor performance. It is so hard to watch Microsoft go down this path, the only redemption for this fanbase is a hero product in spring, I used to hold my breath for that stuff, not any more. Still using Winpho till ATT says they won't support it.
Like a domestic violence victim, MS fanboys everywhere should be asking some critical questions about the relationship they find themselves in. Let's go back to Windows Millennium - remember how it was a new exciting release and that, even though it sucked, they had service packs coming that would usher in a whole new user experience. But what really happened? Microsoft had one drink too many and roughed your checkbook up a little. That's ok though. Microsoft's heart was in the right place. How about that time Microsoft took you out to than new club called Microsoft Music -you were dazzled by the iTunes competitor and so, why not invest in a few songs. But then Microsoft came back to say "where shutting this service down - sorry about your DRM-laden purchases, bye now" and you said "well, I guess loving someone never means you have to say your sorry". Speaking of, how's that Kinect doing? You know the one you bought so you could integrate your TV and have something way better than the Wii. But then Microsoft figured - it's just a couple of hundred bucks down the crapper, I mean, you've already stood by me through so much. And that's not even addressing the recent past - remember that time you upgraded your Windows phone OS only to find that it didn't support streaming any of your videos from the Movies and TV store? And how's that Groove subscription doing? Making room for it in your Zune memory drawer? Me too. Microsoft is really sorry about those other times it deserted you but it loves you - it's getting counseling and turning over a new leaf. This time, it promises, will be different. I'm not saying developers won't embrace UWP or that Microsoft will cast aside AR within two years of taking your $500. I'm saying if you believe otherwise, you're being driven by something other than statistical probability.
For once I would like to hear a tech journalist that focuses on Microsoft products ask that one question. "How long are you going to string your users along this time?" Just once.
Who's going to buy a mixed reality headset? Only a fool... Once bitten, twice shy...
I'm done with MS. I"ve been abandoned with every MS product I've ever bought into: WinCE PDAs and phones, Win 8, 8.1, Zune, Surface RT, both the Band 1 and Band 2, Groove (Spotify sucks on my MS 950 and my Surface Pro 3). Now Windows 10 Mobile too. They make great products and then abandon the users who buy them. I just ordered a Pixel 2, created a Google account and will begin to transition over time from Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive & Cortana to all the other Google apps and programs too.
I was a fan of MS but the end of windows phone and the end of groove music is the end for me, MS have a story of letting people down, and I cannot make a come back to them in any future, they lose me for ever... android central, here I come... lol
There is only one near-term way Microsoft could save mobile. By using the old adage of "embrace and extend". They did this with browsers in the early days of the consumer based internet. They embraced the browser market and extended it with special html handling. This tactic can work on mobile by allowing Project Astoria to be resurrected. Let native APK to run on Windows Mobile and Windows desktop. Allow Android app developers to publish their apps in the store just like native UWP apps but wrapped up like x86 apps are with the Project Centennial bridge. Then just like Centennial, allow Android apps to take advantage of UWP features (live tiles, etc)... this is the 'extend'. A strong desktop market would entice many app developers to implement at least some UWP features making the Windows based app experience minimally equal to native Android but in some cases, better because of the Windows unique integration. People would be willing to buy a Windows Phone in that case because it could run all of the same Android apps and in many cases, run them better. Microsoft would then always continue developing for iOS and Android, but the first party app as a matter of example, always would provide the best experience on the Windows based devices that also ran APK binaries. Plus, with WoA, a true plug-in Continuum experience running traditional Win32 apps in a desktop experience. That is ultimate device without compromise, with Windows uniqueness, and without any app gap limitations.
It is not going to matter what they come up with in the future. They have burned too many bridges and lost too much trust. Why would I ever take the chance on a new Microsoft product when they could dump it like they have before.
The article and lots of the comment said WP fail because lack of dev/app, people must realize W10 also use the same dam UWP. W10/S/ARM will all come up short because the whole dam CORE idea depends on UWP to move forward.
Hi Bai, that's a valid point. I actually wrote about that a few weeks ago here: Microsoft already has the tools ot needs to address the **Windows** app gap: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-can-address-app-gap-these-tools... Unfortunately, some folk didn't realize the piece actually addressed all of UWP, not just mobile😉
The man had more than two choices. It wasn't as straightforward as "keep mobile alive at the cost of other projects" or "killing mobile is the only way to start working in new ideas" What would have stopped him from saying "you know what, we need a mobile platform. Even if it doesn't grow by very much and even if we have to build the apps ourselves, it's a non negotiable. So here's my plan...I'm going to get Panos to build the best goddam phone he can, and I'm going to make sure we upgrade it every year. And I'm going to kick the marketing guys arse until he puts together a decent global campaign. And I'm going to get my hardware partners to build devices too. And while all that is going on I'm also going to invest massively in windows on arm, VR, AR, AI, cloud and everything else I think is important. Because all of it....every last bit of it...is important." Why couldn't he have done that? Because a tech company in 2017 without a mobile presence is not a tech company worth talking about
You want him to do all that while writing a book???
Thank you Nadella, hope u not reelected.
ALL that effort creating UWP for nothing: UWP doesn't make sense without mobile... And the mobile paradigm is not shrinking... Meanwhile the pc is... You messed it up Nadella and on top write a patronizing book of "leadership": Nothing further from what happened...
I don't see AR/VR/MR/whateverR becoming much of a universal platform. A target for occasionally interesting apps, sure, but an encompassing platform for Microsoft to bet their future on, in the belief it will be indispensible for users - nope. It doesn't pass the Star Trek Tech test: There's gazillions of handheld devices in the Star Trek universe. Sure, there's the Holodeck, but that's a plot device and not an actual envisioning of "how stuff gets done." Its the substance abuse of choice for the 23rd/24th etc centuries. On the immediate, serious side though - without mobile, their hopes for growing the end user - UWP - developer ecosystem is now down to, what - low to middle end Windows "S" devices? A mythical, moving target, Surface handheld device that hasn't seen the light of day yet after 4 or 5 years? I said back when the Verizon Fiasco came about that it signalled an existential moment for Microsoft. I stand by that. Microsoft's handling of mobile will be studied in B-School in the future alongside case studies of Atari.....
Its not too late, Satya has made mistakes, but he did launched Nokia X but didn't put enough resources and marketing campaign so that Android app developers like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat could see that their apps could finally run on a Microsoft product. Some people say Windows Mobile / Phone was murdered, and my thought is that it wasn't, there were projects like Astoria and iOS Bridge which didn't had enough resources and marketing and didn't got attention in the Microsoft company as top priorities. If Nokia X, Astoria and iOS Bridge would have the attention they deserverd, today we would see OEMs selling Microsoft's mobile OS capable of running Bank applications, Airline ticket applications, Snapchat, Youtube, etc. all running on a appstore controlled by Microsoft. But as I think, it's not too late, there is still chance of Plan C, which is to fork Android (AOSP) from scratch and have consumers, carriers and OEMS happy because there is no app gap anymore.
NOKIA X was by NOKIA and not Microsoft. Once they bought NOKIA, then that project was cancelled by Steve Ballmer.
Well said, Jason, well said. Pretty much what I have been saying. Albeit without the use ahem salty language lol. Most infrastructure people do not get transitional stages or phases. To them, if one aspect of infrastructure is failing, you cut it out and either replace it with a better part or you cut it out and re-route, as that's the cheapest option with a lower lead time. Satya went for the cheap option. With the former, you'd have a stronger infrastructure but higher lead time. So in hence higher risk, but doing so you stabilise your infrastructure and enable yourself to branch in via the replacement part, if the company is savy and has foresight. By unifying the underlying core, Microsoft was on the cusp of branching it all together but we all know what happened, the decisions, miss steps and burned bridges is why we do not have a thriving UWP developmental uptake. Sure there are a handful but nowhere what Microsoft had if it had not abandoned consumers. Almost all Developers cater to consumers because that is the largest growth market for trends and 15-minute fame apps. It's pretty simple, we all dream about making it big and changing the world for the better or if you're a materialistic person, making alot of money. It's that re-affirmed bias that drives most developers to target the platform with a larger base group. Remove that potential of growth and you lose your major developer incentive. No amount of money will encourage development, as app development is a recurring cycle between cost, income and relevancy. Personally, to me is rather obviously simple however to many it won't be. Because we all perceive and parse thoughts and feelings differently (cognitive processes and any forms of bias). Never the less it's not to late, Microsoft has to formally announce on a massive stage, their mea culpa for abandoning consumers and how they will work to repair all the bridges they burnt. The easiest one they could start one with is a surface mini with LTE connectivity and telephone because that will enable them to segway into ultra mobile devices with telephony abilities. Slow down development on android and iOS, push out universal store apps first then their ios and android counterparts. So that re-affirms Microsoft is committed to their own platform first and foremost. re-add all the phones that could run the creators update to the feature 2 branch or red stone branch. This an olive branch for the stalwarts who have been left frustrated and burnt. It will go a long, long way. Engage with consumer spaces that they have not traditionally engaged in so secure infotainment systems, this will allow to fine tune 5g tech and leverage azure with Cortana analytics. Enabling them to help lower insurance premiums for safe drivers, a vault for safe drivers of sorts. Here in the UK, Aviva uses an app to do just that, so safer drivers have lower insurance premiums. Obviously this has to be asked and displayed PROMINENTLY. Given how people flip when it comes to analytics and Microsoft. That is just one long term aspect. There are many, I can type endlessly about what Microsoft could do to repair bridges.
Thanks for the great input TechFreak😉
I feel angry and betrayed for ever having stuck up for Windows Phone against the people around me with iPhones and Android phones. Microsoft are fools if they think that they have a future while withdrawing from the consumer market. If people aren't using Microsoft in their personal lives, it won't even enter their heads to use it in their commercial lives. They will naturally go with what they know, which won't be Microsoft. They have opened the door and made it easy for the competitors. It feels like Microsoft are deliberatey sabotaging themselves.
blackberry 10 had native android runtime. you could install almost any android app you need ,even the google store. why microsoft could not do it? why they killed project astoria?
Patent infringement I think.
That is cured with royalties or being good at releasing bug free OSes and apps
Look what happened to BB10.
Ah, downvoted for pointing out the truth, Android apps did nothing but hasten the demise of BB10
yeah people just don't understand the problem won't solve by simply having android apps to run on Windows 10.
.
Blackberry tried that with BB10 and failed miserably and then had to given up.
He obviously had a plan and in hindsight not a good one. Now i rather have Phil spencer or Panos at head of Microsoft, people that stand behind their products and fans, consumers.
What a joke. I will NEVER buy MS hardware again! I've owned Zune/Groove, WinMo 6.x, Lumia 900, 640, Yezz Billy 8, and Now Lumia 950. + Surface RT, and two Surface Pro versions. All except Surface Pros have been ditched by MS. MS cons consumers into investing in its ecosystem then dumps them a year or two later. HoloLens? Are you kidding!?!? Zero trust in that company anymore, zero. No doubt they are winding down Surface. It was a damn fool thing to abandon WM10. That's now Nadellas problem to deal with. The biggest OS company in the world, who promised Windows on any form of device -- and yet it gives up on phones and smartwatches? Even as a placeholder? Ha!! The Surface Phone has been promised for YEARS! F-YOU MS I'M DONE.
I'm glad i brought a cheapo lumia 8.1, they dropped that and users like a hat....no updates nothing to 10.....I hate 10 anyhow I'm happier over at samsung now. I'm really suprised ppl are shocked, it died to me a year ago!!! .....always did seem a like a Beta set up
I also felt pretty betrayed owning am Xbox One original. The thing barely had any exclusive games other than the usual Halo, Forza, GOW etc... and before you know if we are already on a generation refresh with the One X. Felt completely abandoned.
Nutella has been hitting refresh so often he must have developed the carpal tunnel syndrome.
Does anyone knows the name of the weed he smokes?
Nadella? Yeah, it's called hundred dollar bills.
Oh yeah, and for that little rat-faced Belifiore, it's outrageous that a company like MS announces it is killing off Windows Mobile in a buried response in a Tweet! This is what we should expect from MS? Massive announcements regarding things like this being dribbled out, half way, in Tweets -- and by someone who is not the head of the company? Unreal. Like DT is running MS.
All they need is a small but powerful tablet in the size of a phone with cellular but do not market it as a phone. Windows Phone was great for a small amount of time but it failed all in all. And he did come in at the end of it. As a company standpoinnt he did the right thing.
So let's market a phone that is not a phone for the fear of recalling the big fiasco made out of 10% of mobile market share they made out of Windows Phone/windows 10 mobile.
Any good "global survey experts" on this thread? Microsoft's annual stockholders meeting, as I recall is November 29, 2017 - 49 days from today - why not speak with a LOUD GLOBAL VOICE! Satya Nadella will never read WC thread ... but, a "global survey of PO'd users" might get picked up by the Press?
I have 40k worth of their stock, my vote will be to give his butt the boot.
Did you send a link?
Easy: Nadella must be replaced ASAP before Microsoft becomes the new IBM...
Xerox, Atari, Nintendo, etc... No company is to big to disappear...
what he means is that MSFT will eventually only cater to enterprise and hide behind the iron curtain. They will not be visible to the average user and that most of their existing devices will become not-so-profitable in a few years.
As an OS company, I don't understand how MS seems to have failed to grasp is that "consumer" = "enterprise." And so it needs to have an OS that functions in the "consumer" space. I get that MS makes lots of money from providing software and services that only enterprises can buy. But "enterprises" are made up of employees who are also "consumers." Does MS really think that Google and Apple are going to let it provide the cutting edge apps and services on their OS? Or that employees/consumers with Android or Apple phones are going to adopt MS's AI, MR, Cortana, Edge, etc., etc. when Google and Apple are successfully marketing their own products? As a consumer, I am now no longer interested in MS apps or services, and am now figuring out whether to switch to Android (and Google's apps and services) or Apple. Good-bye MS. Good-bye Edge, Bing, Cortana, Groove, Office, Outlook, Photos, OneDrive, Skype, Store, etc., etc. And if I had an Xbox that would be on Craigslist tonight.
When I read #HitRefresh it means kick the most loyal catagory of Windows Fans in the teeth in the mobile catagory. Microsoft failed badly in the early stages of marketing and screwed its most loyal users. I hate Apple with a passion but even I am starting to think about throwing in the towel on Microsoft. Guess my next phone will be a Samsung device because it will be a cold day in hell when I buy an Apple device. Wake TFU Microsoft!
yeah and at one point Windows Mobile 6.5 had something like 20% marketshare in USA, and over 60% in EU.
Good article Jason. Your best so far. And sadly true.
Please. This is the guy who wrote Nutella was a genius. Nuttela's Puffer-in-Chief LOL. Get an AMERICAN back in the job and DEPORT Satya.
Maybe we need Bill Gates to lead microsoft again.....I hate CEOs that try to show profit by downsizing rather than truly growng the business. Is this happening to please investors? Its shortsighted
He's a big supporter of Nadella.
I think one of the issues is secrecy. I think MS does have plans for Mobile (probably in line with Zach's overall vision) but they don't like to show devices till they are ready. Look at how both the Surface Book and the Surface Studio took the vast majority of sources by surprise and the Surface Laptop only leak the day or two before announcement. Apple and Google leak like seives and MS know they keep their cache with the big reveals. What they haven't done is clearly shonw "what comes next" in mobile. They talk vaguely about "a new class of device" and demonstrate technologies that will underpin in (the demos of WoA on a SD830 running full windows), but I think they are too afraid of being "scooped" to give us a peek behind the curtain and that makes people think there isn't anything there.
I hope youre right
If there was one bone-head move in recent times I would reverse it would have been leaving HP out to dry. The X3 is a great device and could have easily been positioned as the transitional testbed for WoA/CShell/OneCore. They could have moved the new Insider fork to just the X3 and kept a core group of loyalists happy while testbeding the tech. HP would have felt the love and support they want and continued to develop the line in conjunction or beside the mythical Andromeda device as a more "phone like" iteration and a solid OEM partner would be there. As is, whatever they do, they will do without OEM support at first, which could be tricky.
EXCELLENT POINT, I completely agree!!! In addition, HP footed the bill and GOT the HP Elite x3 "modified and certified" TO RUN ON VERIZON for a fall release!!! HP must have been working with BIG HP ENTERPRISE customers and BIG HP partners and could have "really bridged the gap"!!! Terrific job Satya Nadella !!!
Outstanding "customer satisfaction"!!!
So, BOTH consumers and large Enterprise customers must be completely frustrated with Microsoft !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think they could have basically said, "look the X3 will not get win32 support but it will get as much else of Andromeda that the hardware can handle (essentially becoming W10S) so we can build the core experience on it during insider preview" that would have let HP market an X3 version 2 for the legacy win32 support and given Microsoft the loyal user base that would give them feedback on the development.
except MSFT doesn't care about its own loyal users, with many of them switching to Android now.
Ready??? If that was so i could have used my 950xl full potential since it's release in 2015 instead i am still waiting in fall 2017 for a patch that would fix the gps tracking or would not have to wait months for them to fix doble tap to wake, or SD problems or or store codes (0x00f93...), or camera "saving..." Codes, or battery drains, or crashes when using the dedicated camera button, or loosing contacts after an update... I DONT THINK BRINGING A READY PRODUCT IS IN THEIR AGENDA, But producing easy and fast money along gimmicks under the big name of a falling corporate culture... The biggest gain for the short run... That is not how start ups make it... Google and apple were once small and minor players under MS, but MS is so big in its mind it doesn't know how to innovate...
I've had a 950 since launch and none of those issues. But until recently Surface and mobile were separate, meaning my statements about Surface would not apply to the 950 series.
You're dreaming. They can't even get a Cortana powered speaker off the ground. Or a watch. Or their own apps in the Windows Store. The entire current management team and board need to be shot.
Even in AR and AI MS is posed to fail! Both Google and Apple have AR that people can use right now in their pockets! HoloLens is cool and all but its not in consumers hands. Android and iOS are, right now! Guess which is going to win mindshare and therefore developer attention? AI same story... Right now the average Joe might see AI as Siri, Google now, and Alexa. Again all available in people's pockets. Sure Cortana is available on the PC, but where is the Cortana IoT integration? Apple has HomeKit, Google something similar, Alexa also interfaces with a host of other services. Where is MS's answer to those? All of this is training the customer to realize more and more that they don't need Microsoft and their "ecosystem" anymore... How can he NOT see that!?!?!
AR is already a fail: look what they did with HoloLens, it's 2 yars now. It's still a devkit not used but anybody relevant. What apps they wanted to run with it while they were changing SDK with every mobile Windows iteration. Now even UWP apps will die soon without any comitment to mobile platform. They remind me academic profesors in my post soviet european country - they are completley out of this reality and all of their research is just to prove something and than back to the drawer.
They aren't the only ones. Google Glass anyone?
Ping, buzz, apple car initiative, google hardware try #1... The list goes on.
When my 950 dies or I'm clearly missing out on the coolest phone features, I'll move over to Google and say goodbye to one OneDrive etc. Give me a call when you hit 51% anywhere consumer market based.... no not old desktops.
Microsoft, you used to plant the tree. Now all you do is to carve "Microsoft was here" in someone else's tree. So long...
Mobile phones are not phones. They are Personal Computers that happen to make phone calls. Most mobile phone carriers are bundling ever more minutes and texts in plans because people have moved to data. In the scenario where the mobile is the Personal Computer it is much more important than building a laptop, an ultra mobile PC, a PC anything in fact. If you are not making a mobile device then you are not creating the ecosystem for your services. You can create the best AI on the planet but if it's not on a mobile device and can be used daily then it's not going to be used. You can create the worlds finished machine learning but if you are not getting the input from people on the most used devices then it will gradually lose traction to the devices people do use. You can create superb augmented reality but if people are using it on the device people have in their pocket you are lost. If UWP really means, for the most part, a wrapper to distribute apps in a low quality store then UWP lacks any real point other than as a curated software respository. Windowsphone was not about phone. It was about creating the other technologies can run so as those technologies mature people will have a platform to deliver those desirable technologies. Right now Microsoft's future technologies are orphaned. Payments is a good example. Mobile payment was the "next big thing" five years ago. Windowsphone never delivered Microsoft Pay but Google and Apple did deliver mobile payments and are exploiting a technology Microsoft have missed. My view is Microsoft have missed the next wave because the platform they have is peripheral to the next wave. Having a mobile device would have kept them in the game.
I think abandoning Windows 10 mobile was a mistake, I realised when I was looking at the AR headsets they just released and I thought "...but maybe they will abandon it in a year or two...". When I had that thought I realised just how annoyed I am with Microsoft. Of course most people don't know about or use W10 M so they will not be feeling as I do. I use/have android and iOS devices and I have to say I prefer the 950. Android and iOS are clearly both better than they were, but I just prefer the layout and feel of W10 M. I am not sure what I will do next, part of me thinks "buy a 950XL or an X3... but they might ditch support in 6 months...". The only app I use, besides MS apps, is WhatsApp, if that went I would have to leave as I have family and friends all round the world and they all use WhatsApp.
I had hopped a small tablet running Windows on ARM, or even a Windows on ARM phone would appear, but the whole "Coming soon" thing has finally made even me skeptical (friends and colleagues call me a Windows Fanboy)and after Intel's threats I am even more doubtful.
Perhaps even that one will go universal app as many others 😉
Finally, he admitted that he made a FUBAR!
I just know that I have very little faith or trust in Microsoft keeping their word anymore. Yes. It's just business. I was mistaken to believe their vision and commitment to consumers went beyond that. Oh well. It's a shame.
It really is sad that Nadella were so short sighted. When I was entrenched in the ecosystem, my phone and my pc worked so well together. I could use Cortana to set reminders, appointments, whatever on either my phone or PC, and my PC or phone would remind me. Cortana on WP was probably the best virtual assitant, rarely giving me any problems with what I needed. Windows Phone just worked, but with each release they took away more and more features and broke other ones. Now I use a Pixel... it doesn't really talk with my PC. I only use Cortana as a quick launch for application on my PC. My phone and PC no longer communicate the way they used to. The launchers and Cortana they came out with on Android are nice, but they didn't even bother to properly integrate Cortana into the launcher. Google now has a year's worth of my use and it's assitant, while not as nice as Cortana, has customized itself to me. As far as reaching out to developers, I was a hobby developer for WP starting with 8, I made a simple application using the built in components and methods that Microsoft recommended. Do you know what 8.1 brought for me? Almost a complete rewrite of my app because, even using the components and methods Microsoft recommended, they managed to change everything from user interface to file data access... the only thing that still worked was my core logic. About the time I got around to rewriting the app, since it worked just fine keeping it as an 8 app I took my time, 10 was coming out. I looked into that and once again it would require rewriting... and they wonder why, other than marketshare, developers stayed away... they couldn't provide stability. Also, I was a Band user and a Surface 2 RT user... MS has lost my trust as the only things that are actually still supported are my laptop and my Xbox (though they don't really do anything with the Kinect anymore). Even though it looks really cool, I have a really hard time being sold on their mixed reality. I'll probably end up getting it elsewhere from someone that will actually support it. May also look into jumping to the Apple ecosystem because it all just works together like the Microsoft one used to.
Ok, Jason. What is Nadella going to do about this apparent lack of caring about consumers? Can someone from WC actually get a quic