Microsoft's Joe Belfiore says Windows 10 Mobile features and hardware are no longer a focus

Yeah, as you say and as Zac stated we have known and reported many times Windows Mobile was being phased out. Let's see what Core OS brings to the table.🤔 Why the death of Windows Mobile is a good thing
https://www.windowscentral.com/why-death-windows-10-mobile-good-thing Is Microsoft strangling WindowsMobile
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-strangling-windows-phone-prepar...

Looking forward to the future is definitely more worth while than dwelling on the past, and the "troubles" of the present.

@rodneyj I am going to dwell on the past.  We should dwell on the things Microsoft should have done better.  Plus I purchased at least 5 WP devices.  I purchased at least 4 Xbox's.  I purchased two Bands.  I purchased 6 Nokia Speakers (under MS unbrella).  I purchased a Surface Pro.  I am a subcriber of Zune/Xbox Music/Groove now since 2009.  Yes.  I am dwelling.  As we know now there is no "immediate" future in any.    And I loath iOS and Google.  So I'm going to have to take particular good care of my current Windows Phone devices. 

I couldn't agree more to your comment.

Totally with you in this. We are with MS because we dwell in the past, and they have made money out of selling us products and service in the past. So yeah, both us and MS benefit from the past. To hell with this crap about making a clean slate. Nobody wants that, and MS should know better than asking that of their fans, when "a clean slate" means stop buying their things.

Why were you investing so much into a dead mobile eco system? Everyone knew it was going nowhere 2 years ago! 

I still intend to buy a cheap used 950XL though. I miss the Asphalt 8 racing and the data save on Windows can't be seen by the android version. Also the storage settings are rubbish on android, compared with W10M.

Personally, I'm really not looking forward to switching to android. I've used my wife's andriod phone and it made me want to stick with WP. I think the andriod UI is a big step backward and the OS is very inefficent. I may stick to my WP as long as my facebook, instagram, and news apps run.  This is very bad news.

Had to switch to Android for my main phone last week after My Alcatel 4S' internal speaker crapped out and its warranty replacement crashed avery 5 minutes or so. Really, Windows Phone is so superior to other phone OSes out there. What a shame. I feel I reached some sore of compromised thanks to Launcher 10 (which in far superior to SquareHome in my opinion). I too may try and get my hands on a dual SIM Lumia 950 for my secondary phone.

Try computer launcher.
Interesting, but arrow is still best

Because, at its worst, it's STILL better than iPhone or Android.

Exactly.  I always try the shiny iBling and latest Android candy bar makers, but keep on returning to Windows 10 Mobile.  Why?  So many reasons.  Value.  Availability.  Lower accessory pricing.  The excellent Nokia Zeiss lens 20MP photography is also simply unmatched in my experience.  When I enlarge the others it quite frankly looks like terrible and is thus unusable for me.  The Windows Lumia 1520, Lumia 950 and 950 XL are the only "phones" or mobile devices that I can confidently use and not be concerned about needing better results.  I have shot through tinted glass windows and produced amazing quality images.  The nicely endowed, rapidly & wireless charging and instantly swappable batteries on the 950 & 950 XL are very solid under rated features.  The Dual SIM is fantastic!  Don't want to live without it now.  Really nice to have the choice of whether to take one or two devices.  This is particularly helpful when traveling, camping or flying overseas.  I truly use and enjoy the personalization Win 10 mobile provides.  :)  Micro SD cards are still growing in capacity.  Truly helpful to me to have a proper file system to go around an app that is buggy (try that on an iPhone).  Sheeple ask me all the time "what device IS/TOOK/DID that"?!  My 2 year old 950 Lumia.  Hilarious!  Apple really is still playing catch up.  While I suppose one should admire the bloated app collection on the other OS's...I really don't.  Most mobile apps are rather marginal in my experience.  You can often just use your browser easier without downloading anything extra.  Or if I'm really doing anything of significance I'll just use my Surface Pro 4 (anyways) for a much better experience than any watered down mobile OS can provide.  Looking forward to the LTE Surface Pro. Mobile is nothing but an odd popularity homecoming contest at the moment.  Truly bizarre that people embrace the Google monopoly and Apple tax with their $ so much.  In the auto world this would be akin to only being able to purchase an (apple colored) metallic Lexus or a refrigerator white Government sponsored fleet vehicle.  Simply unacceptable.  Long live the options! YMMV.

I also loath iOS and Google. Or, moreso Apple and Alphabet, the companies behind it all. However, the way Microsoft has treated me as a consumer has made me loath them even more. I'll not be headed to iOS because it doesn't want to play well with my current Windows laptops and software, or my current cables and accessories. Too much proprietary and not enough bang for the buck. I didn't get to retire at 46 years old by spending too much to get things done. I've moved to Android. I won't be coming back to Windows Mobile because it is dead. However, running Launcher 10 helps with the transition a lot. I get the benefit of live tiles and the start screen (called Home on Android of course) and all apps list are there and perform exactly like Windows Mobile, with the exception that I finally can have my start screen in landscape mode if I like. The Microsoft Launcher they are trying to push doesn't do landscape mode, and will not do the app drawer in list mode. Only an icon grid is available. That's a deal breaker for me. I hate grid lists, which is why I've hated iOS and Android for so long. I've not used a grid list since Windows 3.1, and I'll not go back to it, ever, if I can help it. With MS Office working so well on Android, and with Edge coming, and Cortana working as well as Cortana works (though I prefer the Google Assistant because it works better), and with Launchers like Launcher 10, I can't see any reason to ever go back. I can already send tabs between my laptop and phone in Firefox, so I don't have much reason to go back to Edge, seeing as how Edge still has so many problems that Microsoft still hasn't fixed. I've moved on. It's dead. I'm still a hard core Microsoft user, but after being burned so many times over the last few years by Microsoft, it's now more of a necessity than a passion.

Apple's ecosystem is more expensive up front, but the resale value is quite a bit higher. And they actually tend to their products and services rather than abandon them. My time is the most valuable resource I have, and I spent WAY too much of it during the MS years on non-value added activities. Google's platform is chock full of contradictory services and products that it has become a minefield of picking something either too early or too late in cycle. I became an Apple fan not because I'm a Cupertino lover, but after being burned by both MS (with their mismanagement) and Google (with its abandonment of devices and services, like Picasa).

I left WP for Apple as well. While I agree with all your points my reasoning was different. Apple sells hardware, Google sells you. I I have never been an Apple hater, I just preferred Windows. Apple is very upfront about what they do, they sell hardware. Google collects and sells information about you. Also Apple is very unified in their approach to updating iOS. and this is probably the main reason for resale value. The new version of iOS works on phones from 3-4 years ago. While new Android phone are running 3-4 different versions of that OS. An older Android phone will only get security updates when older iphones are still getting new versions of the OS. If you value privacy consider dropping Google for duckduckgo and check out the Brave browser. For performance and features Dolphin browser is the best mobile browser I have used  

@rodneyj I really wish for the the Groove music subscription that MS just used Spotify's data, if would Spotify allow that, because that sounds more like a partner ship than what is going to happen. They did it with HERE so why not with Groove? I not only purchased the pass for the music but for the 100 GB, two birds with one stone, now I am not looking into buying more because I can't hit two birds with one stone now.
Removing the streaming service completely from Groove is risking the death the Groove. They should have intergrated a streaming service into the application. Are we still going to have music videos? Does that apply the streaming part or just Groove finding music that matches music videos?

Groove in it's current state is gone. Forgot about it... Today I used Groove to transfer everything to Spotify, and the experience was seamless.. It actually looks kinda like Groove. My playlist are there, and even the emoji that I labeled them with transferred over. That was cool. I don't care. As long as my "work" carried over for the same price, whatever. If the music plays I'm good... I just wish Spotify would let MS redesign the Windows apps for them.. Who knows, maybe that's coming as well. I probably won't really miss Groove now.

Except not everyone streams music aside from their own library.  There's no streaming service that I find in the least interesting, personally.  I liked Groove for what it was to me: a way to access my library from anywhere, on anything.  Spotify doesn't support OneDrive, thus it's completely useless to me.

With the utmost respect, you sir are pulling the wool over your own eyes, something which MS Corp under Satya Nadella has been doing to WM aficionados for over 3 years. I was a WM fanatic between 2012-2015 Spring buying first a Nokia Lumia 920 then their Lumia 1020. Additionally I got 5 friends and 2 relatives unto WM platform. I got out with the April 2015 purchase of a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge then last November I got the LG V20. On my V20 I use the Launcher 8 which is a superior Live Tile Launcher than I had on my L1020 (which I still own along with the S6 Edge). Move on is what I advise. For those of you who justifiably hold a grudge against Nadella and Microsoft for ' misleading' us into believing that they would release WM flagship devices, I say vote with your pocketbook and don't buy their software for your Android or Apple Smartphones. They have lost our trust and should suffer accordingly.

and i totally agree with you. I purchased 7 windows phone for the family, 2 bands, x-box, and surphace tablet. All of them are being partially nonfunctional or abandoned by MS. I can not easily look "to the future" with MS. Now a guy like Belfiore tells me, it is time to start over again with someone else? If i do why would i need MS for anything? 

Yeah, but nobody is making us continue to buy into MS, and their lack of marketing, especially when there are other choices, like them, or not.. Sure we're disappointed, but leave the "dwelling" for the trolls, as they will always find a way to complain about the products we like...... Just be hopefully for what the future may bring, and is you don't trust MS anymore then try something else. Like I said, it's not the end of the world, and MS isn't gonna give anyone their money back.

I'm still using my Breeze II flip phone. You know, one of those phones designed mainly to make phone calls. And some simple messaging. Period. :)

After all my Windows phones finally die, that's the direction I'll be going.  Just a feature phone with tethering for my SP3.

I love this statement @rodneyej So true!

Looking forward to the future as well. R.I.Piss Windows phone. Say hello to Nokia on Android. 😂✌

I was very sad when WM6.5 Ended with no OS in sight. I moved to Palm with the pre. It was an amazing out of box experience and was not until WM10 that Microsoft fully caught up. Friends of mine hung on to those palm devices till they died as did those flip phone users from the early 2000's.
I feel the same way about wm10 as they did. My 950xl is still kicking but its starting to over heat about every week or so and overheats charging I think due to the Vapor cooling being damaged. It has a damaged screen and headphone jack. A new cheap one on ebay is like 400.00 so right now I'm looking at the HP. My wife got a new phone this past September and she chose the iPhone 8 or alcatel idol 4s after looking through the wave of android devices.

Based on pricing I went with the 4s. How could I not. In the event of a surface phone I can swap her out and not sweat the 200.00. But now I am looking at a bigger purchase and to be honest Ill say what she did. I just don't use apps. I use edge. I have an android device and looked through the store frequently and I just don't need anything. I will miss the camera I guess but the HP has everything I need. I'm going that rout and waiting for Core OS. Maybe it will be mobile enough and with a dialer so that I wont need a phone in the modern sense. The future awaits and I will be ready. And if not I will look at android and get a bogo deal on something next year.
This truly makes me sad....and it was Groove that hurt me. New Hardware, 6 Months free to Spotify would have had a very different reply. Even if the hardware was a 660.

I'm gonna wait for Microsoft's next mobile device. and yeah, the 4S is a good intermediate phone.

Wait???? Don't wait there will be no windows mobile devices from microsoft

@Pritam Naskar,  Some fanboys can't get it through their thick skulls that MS is OUT of the mobile device market.   

@Steve Adams & Pritam Naskar:  Obviously Microsoft is working on a new "mobile" device. However, I doubt it will be the Hero device we wish it would be. But for some, this device could serve well. While I gave up W10M once Groove left and HP was out, I will still use my Lumia 950 as my business phone. It just works great for that as I don't need consumer type stuff for business. As for my personal, I switched to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Microsoft made the switch pretty painless as they FULLY support Android. I have to say that while I was holding on for so long, I simply cannot wait until Microsoft comes out with a new mobile device category that I might obtain for personal use. Nothing wrong with waiting to see how things play out though. Just because W10M is done, doesn't mean WOA will not bring a new device form factor. I waited long enough for myself, some will wait even longer. Just because someone "can't get it through their thick skulls" in your opinion, I am sure they fully realize the situation and are making the choice to wait and see. Does their choice affect you? No it doesn't. Just because Zune is dead, should users pitch their Zune HDs into the trash? No, it may work extremely well for them and even I still want to get my hands on one. What may not work for you, will work for someone else. Microsoft is out of PHONES in regards to mobile. For all we know, they might redo the Surface Mini using Windows 10 on ARM with LTE and their recent patents. While this particular device wouldn't serve the masses, it sure will grab my attention as it could easily meet my specific needs. I just hope that whatever device they may or may not launch in a mobile form factor, they at least have PWA support ready.

Until they fire the nitwit in charge,  Don't hold your breath on a new mobile deivce that is a phone...everything else is symantics....new form factor, paradigm shift, etc...it's all bullshit to baffle silly fanboys.   It will be a phone...and never released if Nadella is CEO.   

You know, you could totally do away with namecalling. You have your opinion, you should respect other people's opinion. After all, it's their choice to stay with whatever ecosystem/brand and use whatever phone they like.

It's as simple as that....

Just ignore the ignorant, Jackie..
Just because people have hope, a desire, preference, or wish, doesn't mean that they are blind to the reality of the situation at hand...
All that means is that they just have more vision, imagination, and a need for something less typical than the average troll is contempt with.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with you wanting a Windows on mobile device. Doesn't mean you know in your mind for sure one is coming, rather you want what you want. **** any idiot who doesn't want you to have what you desire. SMDH.

Lord dip s**t trolls again

@Pritam Naskar & @Steve Adams You really believe that there won't EVER be another mobile device from Microsoft? Are you so certain to make that kind of a blanket statement for an uncertain future? You know, 'cause there are actual plans for reentering the mobile space from a different perspective.

Read my coment again @fdruid.   I said "UNDER CURRENT LEADERSHIP".....I never SAID NEVER.  If Nadella leaves and they have someone with real vision instead of counting beans....then maybe.  As it stands now,  I would not hold my breath.  If it's anything other than a phone,  it will be a dead duck however.  

There will be no "next mobile device".  They are done with Windows on phones.  The closest you're going to get is loading up Microsoft's apps on an iPhone or Android.

My 950 XL was also starting to fail to the point where the main mic used for calls stopped working, so I bought a note 8 for now, and will use it until the mythical surface device releases next year. I would be lying if I said that I don't miss live tiles or even the camera of the 950 XL, but I would also be lying if I said that I didn't love the note 8, using the pen, doing real multitasking, split screen and damn that screen puts anything else to shame. The camera is ok but at least its incredibly fast. I can literally take a burst of 100 photos in a few seconds to ensure I get the shot of my moving kid. 

I've got a note 8 too now. My 950 XL is still kicking strong. I just use the note 8's mobile Hotspot to keep my 950 up to date and running strong, and it stays connected to my set Wi-Fi at home. Plus, audible for Android doesn't allow streaming. So some apps are better on my Lumia 950 XL than my note 8. Oh, and the new Microsoft launcher has made the transition less painful. I can't wait for The Edge browser to hit Android. I use Firefox, and it's just not mobile intuitive. The address bar and tabs are all at the top. You have the note 8, so imagine trying to reach that to select tabs, horrible.

This is exactly how I feel. My 950 seems to be having mic issues as well. I am considering to try out a couple Live Tile launchers. Would be nice if Microsoft did one themselves or added it as an option for their launcher that's in beta. That would be welcome. The Note 8 takes good enough shots for the tradeoff of being supported by Microsoft and everyone else in the world. So far I do not regret switching to this phone. With the pen, it makes me wonder how it would have been if Microsoft followed through with Surface Pen support for the 950/950 XL.

I'm sorry for the loss of your friends who died holding Palm devices. However, I agree with the wife, I'm loving my iPhone 8+

You have not. You have not known. Only speculated and skirted around the edges.

Jason, do you think "Core OS" will be enterprise focused?

Most of Microsoft's focus is the enterprise.

@JasonWard,  ALL of Microsofts Focus is in enterprise...There fixed that for you...The new Xbox will be the LinkedIn edition.

Well, it definitely isn't gonna be consume focused, 👰🏽 because MS has tucked their tail, in that regard.

Jason, this was a betrayal by Satya Nadella. I switched to the galaxy S8 you said you had an urge to go too; I suggest you do the same, Microsoft isn't a trust worthy company and despite what Joe says,Microsoft under Nadella never made a real effort with windows mobile to make successful. He only focused on the cloud and window 10 desktop.

"Microsoft under Nadella never made a real effort with Windows Mobile" I nominate that as understatement of the year. They could have easily advertised it as heavily has Samsung and Apple do their products. That would have promted enough sales to get developers interested. When developers see you don't care enough about your own product to advertise it, they won't develop for it. If you don't like it why should they? I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Nadella secretly told major developers not to do apps, because he wanted it to die and never wanted it in the first place. Okay, yes, I was passionate about Windows 10 Mobile and I got burned, so I'm mad and bitter about it.

I am 100% with you on this!! Nadella is a horrible CEO.

Good thing the BoD does not think like you do. Microsoft's finacial performance under Nadella is phenominal. Major turn around from the last years of Balmer's reign. 

OMG55 - "betrayal"?  Rubbish.  He owes you, the consumer, absolutely nothing.  He answers to the board of directors - not the consumer.  He was against the Nokia purchase, and he was right.  It was a money loser.  He was being responsible by not throwing good money after bad.  Belfiore was finally up front about the 800lb gorilla - the app gap.  It wasn't the platform that killed it, though some - "bleached" in particular - disliked it.  I for one really liked the WinMo10 experience, but the app gap forced me off the platform.   Don't hold Nadella responsible for doing the right thing, as much as it pains the WinMo fans, myself included.

Wrong, look what happened when the consumer spoke on the Xbox One launch, the board couldn't help them. Which is why they have invested millions into Nov 7(throwing good money after stupidity). The right thing was informing the consumers you had no plans on day one, not 2yrs later.

Death of windows mobile is good????? Just shut up

Its not being phased out because Belfiore has a new rival phone or like his boss prefer something else.
We'll be here for the next restart... Coming soon.

The big question is how do they win back fans.

Do you think there is any risk to MS back porting RS3 and RS4 APIs? WC reported a few weeks back that the APIs would be coming to W10M even if there will be no new features. Have you guys uncovered any wavering on that position?

Do you really think "Core" for mobile is going forward? If it were, wouldn't he have said so?

1. Nobody knows
2. When does MS divulge their plans?

Might be old news, but it isn't something that consumers should have to guess or speculate about being kept in a constant state of fear. *uck MS.

After reading this and seeing it first hand on twitter, I gave Microsoft choice but non-profanity laced words; check them out on twitter @OMG55! I also upgraded to the Galaxy S8 and loaded all of Microsoft apps on it using Microsoft Launcher/Arrow Launcher. I gotta say, if is Microsoft's plan to take over Androind it could work. I like it but it need more customizations. I honestly wish Microsoft would have simply taken advantage of their invenstment in CyogenMod and created their own custom version of Android that users could have update the Windows phones too. Because of their lack of caring, I've spent a lot of uneccessary money because they didn't have enough respect for their supports to tell us this 2 years ago. 

"I like it but it need more customizations."  LOL, you clearly haven't done a lot with Android yet.  It's by far the most customizable platform of the three.

Microsoft is shutting down most of its mobile offerings like Groove, and now her boss for Windows says, "building new [hardware]/software isn't the focus" anymore. Yet, some fans here are still talking about some pie in the sky mobile hardware.  It is hilarious. You can't make this stuff up. 

Why do you connect the two? Please explain.
......
Of course, like always, you, like everyone else, never has a tangible explanation for their doubt, so I don't plan on "hearing" back from you... Surprise me, this time.

Because any software or services they build for W10M can also be leveraged by the "Surface Phone" assuming it is UWP. If they were serious about a "Surface Phone", they would be building an ecosytem for it to be successful in. Actively taking the ecosystem apart is the exact opposite thing they would be doing of they had any plans for a future phone device.

Great stuff - Microsoft does everything possible to infurate their last remaining phone users so they can in 2019 relaunch a new mobile phone effort with 'New' customers. Even after yesterday you still see people talking about the future 'Surface' phone. MS has issued very clear statements that Windows on ARM is not for mobile phones and people here still talk about the mythical WoA mobile phone.  Nadella understands the future is all about who controls the services devices are using, not those selling the devices. Microsoft now has a chance to win by creating client apps that run on all platforms.   

Unless Surface Phone cures cancer or something, I really don't see how it do anything of value. And no, CShell will not help. Clearly people do not care about Windows. So IMO, Surface Phone won't happen. Not now, not in 5 years. 

Well, that's your opinion. Everyone has their opinion.. My opinion is that I don't know. I don't work for MS, so I don't have information about that... Basically, your guess is as good as mine, that's why at this point both oppions don't have to be agreed on, but should be respected. I respect your opinion.

I'm with you. You can't separate hardware from software, and now that Microsoft has basically said "peace out" to W10M, why would they even bother with a Surface phone? It would be nothing more than the X3 Elite: a killer phone with no future. They just buried any potential plans for mobile. Any OEM would be extremely foolish to invest a phone to this platform, so kiss them all goodbye. This is it. It's time to move on. The real question should be what phone is everyone going to get next: Android or iOS?

I'm going android. As far as my personal privacy concerns, ios isn't better so i might as well think of android's flexibility as a feature. But then again....ios's synergy...
My thing is, when i switch mobile platforms, I'm going all in with software and services. I wonder how many are like me and as a fan of this site, which i am sure will be fine, I'm just concerned about wc losing traffic. Idk if ms considers the ripple effect their decisions has but then again....business is cutthroat

I'm right there with you. In 2016 I finally shut the door on Windows Phone and played around with Apple and Android. While I liked the options for customization within Android I hated the way manufacturers like Samsung and LG implemented it so I decided on iPhone. Moving to an iPhone and digging deep into the Apple ecosystem almost swayed me to go full Apple and ditch my PC in favor of a MacBook Pro. I held off... Google's recent Keynote gave me pause and I'm jumping on the Pixel bandwagon, and like you i'm usually all in on goods and services so goodbye Outlook, hello Gmail, and that saves me an extra $100 a year so I won't need to re-up my Office 365 account. I'm also curious where Chrome OS goes simply because the announced Pixel Chromebook is such overkill in terms of such raw horsepower I have to wonder if they are going to move toward some type of Widows emulation and allow for execution of Windows based programs. If that's the case then I will probably say goodbye to my PC. If I can effectively run my Abode Creative Cloud programs on that Chromebook I may just go all Android. At this point it's pretty clear that outside of the Xbox, MS isn't that interested in consumer sales anymore and is going to a strictly enterprise model which is perfectly fine, it 's just nt a direction I'm interested in.

Everything you just said. As soon as my laptop dies I'm moving over to Chromebook and going all-in on Google services. Especially now that Groove is gone there's no need for me to worry about music through Microsoft either.

Yep.

I am right there with you. If I can find an easy way to transfer my OneDrive files I'll drop O365 as well.

its the start of moving away from windows, microsoft in general... personally they will become less relevent over time.

Chromebook is horrendous. They have them at the school I teach at, and virtually everyone loathes them. I bought myself a Surface Pro and just put the Chromebook in the closet.

I have had the same thoughts. I am eager to see how and what happens with the Pixel book. I still don't understand what the Chrome OS limitations are, but it's interesting. Also, the Pixel 2 Harkins back to Nokia days with it's casual funky vibe. That's where I'm headed at this stage although I love my X3 and feel very pissed with MS. I too will ditch all things MS and try to go all-in on whatever platform I choose. I still feel very skeptical of Apple, and with their ridiculous prices I am tempted to not even look. Plus, how can I go back to a laptop without pen and touch? Not even possible. Apple would have to change big time to persuade me, but I think Google will get there first because it actually knows and cares what people want. Probably because they know what we're doing 80% of the day 😊.

I have looked around for alternatives to OneDrive. I realized I only had 40 gig uploaded. Amazon cloud drive is 11 bucks a year for 100 gig. I signed up last night and will start shutting down OneDrive and I will not be renewing my O365 subscription. I'll still use Onenote but that'll be about it.

Bro it completely depends on the usage. If someone is like me who uses over 100GB of data on the cloud(I'm currently using 127.5GB), in that case onedrive is the cheapest option by far. Because you can share that subscription with your friends or family(available with O365 Home max. limit 5 users each user get 1 TB seperatly + Office apps). That makes it so cheap that it will blow amazon cloud drive or any other cloud services out of the water. Because none of these services give the Office Apps. Other cloud services charge almost same price plus you can't share your subscription plan with others.

It probably has overkill specs because a lot of web and Linux devs are starting to use Chromebooks instead of Windows laptops nowdays. You can easily run Linux side by side with Chrome OS. So you run your developer tools and servers on Linux and then switch to Chrome OS for the rest. No dual booting needed. Do a web search for "Crouton" for more information.

This is were I am at. The platform was their strenth. Giving that away makes their services less applealing.

IOS is a lot better than Android when it comes to privacy, and MacOS is a lot better than Desktop Windows 10. I'm not even sure how you can come to that conclusion, really, unless you know almost nothing about Apple, their star on user privacy, or their platforms.    I'm considering the Pixel 2 XL (currently on an iPhone 7 Plus), but privacy isn't the reason to switch, and it's actually the big question mark I have regarding switching.    If Google treated their users the same way Apple does, privacy-wise, then they'd probably still 25%+ of Apples users within a year or two. The disparity j this area is a big part of why many people do not move to Android from iOS. 

I can't tell where you stand?? 🤓

There are reasons I said my personal privacy concerns. You are the one that's unaware of those and no i won't be sharing bc it's personal. And as far as your speculation of my ignorance, i own an ios device...

Downvotes for responding to someone's ignorance to my personal concerns?? Clowns lol

Just because Microsoft doesn't do mobile though companies do and have been putting Windows on tablet devices for over a decade if not two. HP/Dell and others definitely will build such devices that play in the mobile arena. I fully expect companies including startups to build mobile devices and fill the gap being left open by Microsoft because our market has been and always open to new parties coming to the market with products.  The big big question is whether or not Microsoft will be a disruption for compainies who want to build devices that work in the mobile space for consumers. For example; leaving out components or not licensing them like CShell, App bridges, etc.  that would support these types of devices?  The hope is that Microsoft is supportive of companies who want to expand Windows into the mobile market that target consumers with devices using Windows.

I never doubt ms's ability to shoot itself in the foot. I'm confident they will successfully find a way to botch the execution and make the barrier of entry too high where partners and/or consumers will decide its just not feasible to go with Windows.

and it's the all in with the platform's ecosystem that is killing Windows. it's been happening since 2011. And it's only going to pick up speed.  

I think that's the thing MS doesn't understand and part of the reason groove failed. When I switched platforms I immediately dropped MS services, it was just a natural progression. 

Have no fear, Mister Burns - you won't miss this site when you move on to Android Central ;-)

Yeah absolutely correct. Everything is connected they don't count the human mind influence when they kill off their products. This same influence is the reason that apple makes the most money by selling their devices. They just don't sell their devices they sell their feel, brand value as well as the reputation.

The day my 950xl stops working is the day I go back to a dumb phone. Google and Apple get none of my money.

Silly fanboy 

Completely agree. I am happy to stick with my 950 until the next generation of mobile devices appears. Android...pah! iPhone...double pah!

But, what if you lose it tomorrow, or it craps out?... Just get an iDroid device. It's not the end of the world.. If MS comes with something new in the future you can check that out then... iDroid devices have some cool stuff, and you won't be miserable at all. But, don't hold yourself back because of MS..
.....
AND THAT'S COMING FROM THE BIGGEST WP FAN IN HISTORY!

What the heck, rwcrossman?  MS doesn't give a horse's patoot about you.  Why are you such a MS sheep?  Google and Apple are no better or worse than MS.  Corporate allegiance is a fool's errand.  

But, then again, if he likes his Windows Phone, how does that affect your day?...
I like my Lumia 950 (Loved my 1520), and if I could buy a new WP device I would. Unfortunately, that's not supported the way I need anymore, and there are no new devices.. So, I'd get an Android device till whenever....
But, I still love the concept of WP, and I wish it was still going as it were years ago. I want a new WP device, so what do you have to say about that?

i'm going to wait for the Nokia 9 to drop later this year. And install the Arrow launcher on it...

Came to WP/M from Apple. Don't want to go back. Moto G5S Plus arrives this week.

I bought the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and so far I am loving it. Loaded all the Microsoft software on it and it runs extremely well. I do miss being able to pin just about anything to Start but I'll figure something out. Still going to use my Lumia 950 for business and for the 3rd party apps that are better in my opinion than those found on Android or iOS. Looking at you Huetro for Hue ;)

If you want  the look and feel of W10m on your Samsung, look into Launcher10. You can pin any tiles you want to the start screen.  I installed it on my Gs7 edge and love it.

Definitely going to check it out now. Prior to purchasing my Note 8, I installed SquareHome2 (i think its called that) on an older Galaxy S4 just to test it out. Hopefully Launcher10 is much better than that.

Clearly no one will ever investing in "Windows Mobile" ever again or Lumia either cause they cant trust such a platform to funtion and gain traction unlike the PC market where windows 32bit and 64bit systems that run functional applications which are the only windows market that will always profit viablity vise companies will always invest for Full Windows 32/64 bit only from now on which will be the only platform on all the currently available and its future form factors like hololens & similar/VR and such which are also full PC's.

It will run on Android ;)

I agree, I don't see "Surface Mobile/Phone etc" coming at all now. Windows on a mobile is dead. Time to get my X3 and Idol 4S on eBay.

Almost ZERO chance the Surface Phone comes out, pretty sure Satya already cancelled it.

If anything, this news could be a sign something new is on the way. We're supposed to expect an Andromeda device early next year (this has been repeated several times on here) and there is a Surface event coming up end of the month. Either way, been using Android for a year now next to my 950, which I was hoping to replace with a Surface Mobile but by the looks of things, it's going to be replaced with a Nokia 8 or 9 if it gets a release date soon ..because as much as I love my 950, its starting to act up

Lol. What problems are you having with your 950?

Im actually not happy that I have to replace my 950, because I still enjoy the OS and the camera does wonders for when Im taking photos of my jewelry photos for instagram and collection.   Apps randomly closing (even after being reinstalled), Quiet hour breakthrough list wont allow me to add anyone just crashes everytime i try ..only solution is to remove my MS account and re-add it, if im writing an sms, I have to write the sms then add the recipient otherwise it crashes.   ..and after the most recent update: battery dying quickly and jumps from 70%to 20-30 in minutes, tried my other battery, same thing.  Phone turning off randomly.  That black screen with long delay is back.     My pics, photos, music, maps are all stored on 64 gb extreme plus sd card.so still got lots of storage on thr device..apps only taking up 9.80 gb.  

yes. Since the last accumulated update, battery life on my 950 has been poor. the answer i found is to turn off wifi. Battery life is much better again, when wifi is off.        

I know it isn't I who you were asking but mine dies in just a matter of a couple of hours and i keep it on battery saver mode

Yet after this littany of garbage, you still refuse to give Apple and Google your money?  Ok, sure thing.

Lol sure thing ..where did I say i refuse to give apple or google my money??   If you've read any of my comments you would know I own a Galaxy (Android) next to my 950 and would like to replace my 950 with a Surface mobile (if it is announced) otherwise I will be replacing it with a Nokia 8 if not 9 (waiting for announcement).

Apologies for the confusion, abduz.  I was responding to rwcrossman's comment:  "The day my 950xl stops working is the day I go back to a dumb phone. Google and Apple get none of my money."

Haha no worries Ahy it happens ...this comment reply system works in an unclear way ;). ..the comment you intended on responding to, is indeed dumb, even a child wouldnt know better than to handicap their mobile usage just because they cant update their fav device.  

they finally say it outright, there is no windows mobile, ultra pc, ultra light cpu, small form factor, ultra foldable, ultra breakable mobile. it over folks.

How did you get all of that from the fact that WM is not the focus anymore?... Do you think mobile means only smartphones?

No, mobile doesn't mean only phones, but I don't need another mobile device that doesn't fit in my pocket and doesn't make phone calls. I have plenty of those. I do need something that does fit in my pocket that does make phone calls..and a bunch of other stuff. What do you call that? A pocketable PC that makes calls? We were basically told MS is not playing in that space with their own OS. They didn't say, we have something in the works that plays in that space. So it is surrendered. Feel free to go where you want, they said. I imagine they understand how hard it is to get someone back, so that is significant. 

@SvenJ,  Exactly.   All this talk about a mobile device thats not a phone but can make phone calls?  I have that already,  Don't need any more of them.  Actaully I have a shelf full of non phone, mobile devices that cannot fit in your pocket.  Also,  I agree with the comment they have given up.   When Their VP of windows division tells you to go elsewhere,  there is NOTHING in the pipe.   What a dumb way to do business if they do have something cooking and their management comes out and says this...they have PISS POOR LEADERSHIP.  But I am a betting man,  and I am betting NOTHING is in the works...

Lord dip s**t trolls again

they say they are done with hardware. the andromeda/wcos stuff is something they are playing with but no real plans. they are focus on making apps and launchers for ios andriod. its windows central saying something (a device) to come in 2018, not microsoft.

Conclusions can be said to the contrary. Take it from a MCSE. Windows 10 as a consumer OS is even in jeopardy without UWP maturity. There are no signs of it taking off. CShell, One Core... doesn't mean squat! All Microsoft will be is a cloud and enterprise company. Xbox and Surface will even be spun off as separate entities. All development MS is doing for IOS and Android is only to tie their OSs to MS Cloud and Enterprise Services. The share holders have spoken and will always drive Microsoft.

Wow way to extrapolate so much from that tweet lol

Huh? Lol. Well what will hopefully come out won't just be a phone as they look like now, as what's been discussed.

belfore said he switched platforms to enjoy the the rich ecosystem, wcos doesnt have one because it doesn't even exist in the consumer space. reread the tweet "building new hw is not the focus"...omg...

He's literally talking about new WM hardware... He isn't technically talking about anything the Surface team might be doing. He's talking about WM, and smartphones. That's it.

@real0395,  what do you expect it to look like then?  If it's anything other than a phone device as mobile,  it will be a dead duck.   Everything else is out there now....

My guess is that a future Surface Phone will be a 3:2 ratio phablet with pen support running Android Oreo. Microsoft isn't creating a Launcher for fun. 

But nor are they targeting consumers, with their cloud focused strategy. As mister burns said earlier, I'm going all in with my new phone, likely an idevice at this point, but who knows. Still don't trust google.

Yep, and that's the point isn't it - MS doesn't give a crap about consumers, about it's loyal customers. They are disgusting how they treat customers.

They're out of touch. New blood in management is needed.

Yes, because the BoD wants to go back to the 'Great' finacials of the Balmer times. Sorry, but Nadella has turn MS around, the BoD will ensure he is not going anywhere.  

News flash, Aden.  MS' "loyal customers" are in the enterprise.  They owe you squadoosh.

Im choosing Android bc the transition from the ms ecosystem will be easier in my opinion. I can't afford going all in at one time with multiple apple devices with their premium prices. And I'm too bougie to buy a new old device lol

If so, that will be my target Surface Mobile device.

Surface Mobile device already exist... What are you waiting for. It is called Surface Laptop or pro with LTE built-in. That is as far as it will go. No phones! Even developing a "cellular mobile device" for an enterprise customer would be a mistake. Why? No apps. Those users would still have to carry around their IOS or Android daily mobile phones.

Link?

Any link would point back to my statement. The Truth! If there was ever going to be a Surface phone... It will be running Android.

It's going to have to be a phone made with Samsung so it takes advantage of Samsung's KNOX for security. Android by itself can be very insecure. ("Can be", not "is").

Have you lost it?

It's looking like Samsung is gonna beat them to the punch with the possible Galaxy X (foldable screen) being released soon.

Of course, ms is a slow dinosaur. Plus, who do you think they would have buying those screens from lol

It looks like Surface phone will not happen...however speculation is  -  mobile device - a telephony enabled tablet that's foldable and pocketable could happen next year? from microsoft or some OEM partner? running Windows on Arm? I think if such a device comes out...it could help increase app usage and in turn possibly bring more app developers to the eco system and help the current developers afford three meals a day :)  hopefully I get to see the "ultimate mobile device" before I grow old and die :)

"...bring more app developers to the eco system" And you'll soon see pigs with wings overhead.  Not going to happen - ever.  Our best hope at this point is that the need for actual custom "apps" ultimately goes away as HTML5 and PWA continues to mature.  

Microsoft I think will make a Surface Mini Tablet with a Cell phone in it's case . it's OS will be Windows 10 on ARM. it's apps will come from the Windows 10's  NEW  "Microsoft Store". it will run all the UWP and standard Windows 10 apps there and win 32 Desktop PC Centannial Programs that are there and run standard Desktp/Laptop PC Win32 x86 programs through the "Windows on ARM" CPU software. if they sell this device I will buy one.

I fear you are right. I'm on Android since 2 month now, and it so bad ... i cannot imagine how this pile of **** could succeed.

I always laugh at the MS converts to Android who bash it.  Clearly you haven't enough experience with it yet to declare it to be "so bad".  You'll be singing a different tune a year from now.

My first Smartphone was a Samsung Galaxy Ace ... it was already crappy back then, and it was a relieve to throw it out after 5 month and get a Lumia 820.  Now I'm 2 month back to Android, and it still drives me crazy. Ok, maybe in a year i will have forgotten some of the awesome features that Win10M has / had, so i don't miss them anymore and just accept that a phone cannot do it. But the OS itself will still feel bad (unlikely they fix lags and bad UI the next 12 month ... but hey, if they do, I'm happy too).

I experience zero lag, and what is your definition of "bad UI"?  My phone is an unlocked ZTE Axon 7 running Android 7.1.  It was my choice because it runs on Verizon though Verizon doesn't officially support it.  I've since moved on to Cricket wireless with the same phone.  I've tried numerous launchers including Arrow, but my current launcher of choice is Nova Launcher.  

Android is the best OS. I like Windows a lot, but you can have Windows like experience with Android launchers. You just need to learn how to work with android. I am going for note 8 this xmass. I am used to use pebln on my surface book so it will be great device for me. And as a software tester a make screenshots and editing then with pen is great.... Can't wait for it :-)

Good Riddance! Windows Platform died when they could not create good apps, or get the Top Apps ported over. But that's fine Nokia is making phones for Android now which is a plus. I can't wait to get my Nokia phone.

Windows Phone, Microsoft Band, Zune, Groove, Glass - all discontinued I will never buy any new products from microsoft any more, since all these are just prototypes

They should release a custom rom for android devices like galaxy series samrtphones, and other high end ones. Ans few budget friendly popular ones. This is the least they can do for their fans.

Well Joe that was becoming obvious when you were on your little extended vacation posting to twitter using android and iphones.  Would have been nice to let us all know before the 950 and 950xl came out, I'm 100% positive you knew the fate of the platform back then.  

@UXO22,  Of course he did,   I DID!  So I am sure he did too!   I called it when the 950 devices flopped,  and there was NO WORD from MS.   They gave up on it then.  

Smh

Lol. Well said. But, they don't have the balls to compete, so it's best they don't.

@rodneyej; Interesting, they do and did compete with Bing, Office, IE, including Xbox believe it or not... But what's amazing there isn't  any gold mines to do a gold rush like way back in the early days but today's Mobile space is far more than a gold mine and Microsoft is refusing to get their cut of that which is near an unlimited market space. 

This could have been announced in 2016.
So disrespectful from Microsoft to use Twitter posts by Belfiore two years after their last flagship release to announce the death of Windows Mobile/Phone. I just feel bad for all those who bought a WM phone this year.

Agreed. They quit the moment Nadella was announced as CEO, and make it official 3 1/2 years later. They should pay back everyone that bought 950's and Elite X3's. No leadership.

I agree.

definitely deserve some kind of compensation for buying a 950XL earlier this year when they knew it was going to be killed off. Nuck Fadella

Anyone who bought a WM device this year should've known what they were getting into. It's not like AT&T was pushing them on consumers.. You'd litteraly be making a informed conscious effort seeking out a WP device. They wouldn't have any room to complain, especially if they were readers of WC.

That's crap. All rumours, no facts given here, and it's not like it was a choice when you consider the entire platform/ecosystem, and that's what people want.

You are correct but Microsoft had a lot of handsets to unload so they kept it quiet until now

Huh?... I doubt if that's the real world case.

No, I think Alcatel had a lot of devices to unload. Thus the Idol 4 Pro in Europe. This news should send those sails through the roof.

Jerks.

Agreed

What type of airheads work at MS that will think that any user will support any new venture based on how MS has supported its own OS in the past.

Look at it like this... MS's failures are so petty compared to what the rest of the industry is doing that the average consumer would buy a nice device by MS not even knowing about any of this stuff.. Because of MS's unpopularity, they are inadvertently safe from their lack of effort, as far as the consumers market is concerned...
Remember, yo mama doesn't read WC, or any tech site, for that matter🙂

Some valid words! But far fetched... 🤔

No. Lol, I'm pretty sure this is reality.

Now, Apple, and Google, are much more vulnerable. Any mishap they make goes straight to the airwaves.

I agree completely, the thing to do would be to wow the press impress them with a device so revolutionary or bizar that they don't mention the history in the article. But it would have to be a show stopper. My hope still likes in "We are not done with Phones, It just wont look like phones of today." That comment came from somewhere and for Nadalla to say it then it must represent something that surprised even him, maybe excited him. Also the guys here seam to know their stuff so this Andromedia HW must be something and since it is always reference with phones it must be "PHONE LIKE"...sorry yes I was yelling there.

Nadella has lied a few times now. Wouldn't put too much weight on his words.

What are his words?

Building phones for three sectors... vs building devices that are phone-like but won't be phones and consider that with him acknowledging the mistake of destroying the current customer base chasing some new shiny device

@rodneyj and @mister burns....what about the dandy line...if OEMs dont make phones we will!!!!!  or,  I am 100 % commited to windows 10 mobile,  Or, we will keep building phones for our fans,  or.........YEAH....exactly....He's a ******* LIAR!

thats exactly my point, more respect if they had come out and said it. instead we got satya outright lying. lots of people trying to dissect and interput when they could have made it clear a year or two ago.

Yep. Yep. Yep.

True enough, it's an insult to people who bought a phone or the people who had faith in the platform.

please upvote this suggestion in Microsoft feedback section, so we can at least backup our data before switching to other OS. https://aka.ms/Qei9be. Everyone do vote 

This is why people should be upset about the news. They were sold something that they must have known they were going to kill off.

Nadella's just following our Dear Leader's approach to public engagement - Twitter rants ;-)

They should make a Surface-droid with their launcher as the default.

They are working on cshell. Most probably it will get cancel under satya Nadella vision.

Please don't say that. Lol. That's the last sliver of hope we have left. 😆😆😆😆

No developers=no apps=dead os everyone knows this s## from now no one will invest in next generation of windows on mobile as a beta test user. Two leaders are far more superior so why bother third smartphone os.

They aren't bothering with a third smartphone OS. Lol. That's what the article is about.
....
And, nobody expects, or wants, them to bother with a smartphone OS.

windows 10 (full fersion) will be sewage on a phone (ultra mobile for you fanboys),  Apps are the future for everything mobile.  Too bad MS could not stay the course back in windows phone 7 and just add features etc...they had to "reboot" 3 times,  each time losing customers in the process.  

" Apps are the future for everything mobile."  You're stuck in the present, Steve.  The expense of developing and maintaining platform-specific apps will ultimately go away.  All of the major players know this, hence their investment in maturing PWA and HTML5.

Satya doesn't have a vision. He is ruining Microsoft. My opinion. He doesn't seem to care about Microsoft consumers because he wants to make his cash off of cloud services. I wouldn't doubt that he will shut Xbox down in a few years.

Just because we like and use Windows Mobile doesnt mean he doesnt have a vision ...if Surface phone/Andromeda does make it, you will see his vision. If it doesnt, not all of us might see his vision but we're also not the ones facing meetings with shareholders. Just look around you, you might have been able to convince a few people to buy a WinMo device .but the majority didnt buy into it nor were they interested for an ample of reasons. So if anything Nadella is doing whats best for Microsoft. If mobile was doing well they would have invested more into it, just like they did with Surface and Xbox ..but unfortunately after a number of years, it had no impact.

You just don't get it. MS failed with mobile because they didn't advertise - nobody knew about WM, just like Groove. MS are a bunch of morons.

Microsoft didnt advertise, that much, that's true but when Nokia was on board, they were advertising left and right ..they didnt cut any corners.  Though that did gain peoples attention, it still didnt sell numbers.     So while that was a part of the problem, there were bigger ones didnt help MS/Nokia, no matter how much they tried and that was apps and perception.   You can advertise all you want but if the product doesnt live up to expectation, consumers simply wont buy it, especially if word of mouth doesnt help.  Word of mouth hurt Windows Phone/Mobile the most.    

Microsoft did'nt keep anything long enough to gain customer and user base....Everytime they started gaining some traction,  they flipped the script.  From 6.5 to 7...one reboot,  from 7-8 another reboot,  from 8-10 another reboot....thats 3 reboots when android and iphone stayed the course and just grew...MS vision of keep restarting killed Phone...NOTHING ELSE.   LACK OF VISION AND PISS POOR LEADERSHIP,  Killed phone.

You might see it as a reboot ...but public and general consumers see it as progression, just like any iteration of Windows or even iOS.  The OS itself generally looked the same but improved kind of like when iOS went from 3D icons to flatter design.  All the details we know about the OS and changes, the majority of consumers dont know, all they see is visual improvements and features.   Yes indeed MS could have followed up, especially after the push from Nokia which would have give them good momentum but clearly sales werent convincing enough and the OS wasnt ready yet for public  due to bugs and whatnot ...Windows 10 mobile was clearly part of a beta program for the bigger picture that was Andromeda ...would you market an unfinished product?? No. Windows 10 mobile was the only OS update that felt like a reboot due to the immense time it took but... Nadella had even stated before releasing the 950's, that they would be making hardware for the fans; translation: everyone here on Windows Central who loves the OS and was going to give them feedback through usage. They tested continuum which is now CSHELL and a big part of Windows 10 as a whole.   As a business they need to look at the long term picture and success; after 6 years, it was clear Windows for mobile was in no way going to convince most people to switch or buy i to it, so they needed a new plan or to make use of whats successful in the market to push their ecosystem because this plan was not succeeding and probably delaying the bigger plan for developing their ecosystem.   this is obviously just my opinion    

Sorry,  every 2 years having to Reboot EVERYTHING?  really  it shows they were weak....

Reboot is when the entire thing is changed and works completely different.  If anything, the changes they have done shows how committed they are to giving us needed updates but Google and Apple always had something new up their sleeves and devs played a big part in that with their apps complimenting those new features.     So Andromeda is basically Microsoft taking the next approach before Apple and Google do ...thats not weak, thats smart and hopefully they succeed with it     6.5 > 7 reboot 7 > 10 improvement updates 10 > Andromeda reboot

What is this next step? Android already is a central core with different shells. iOS basically is too. This isn't new and the core isn't the issue with Windows. Experiences and branding are the issues. Microsoft needs something new and fresh. The same, old, stale Windows experiences aren't going to bring them the future.

Android central core and to a lesser degree, Apple ..do have a core in place but their OS' are seperate entirely, which is why the iPad pro, for example, uses iOS instead of OSX.   While I obviously havent seen or know much of Andromeda ...from what I gather from all thr info we do know including seeing Continuum in action, it's clear MS wants to give us full desktop experience THROUGH our mobile device that fits in out pocket.  By doing that, we will be able to use our mobile devices as a portable PC which makes calls as well.   Couple that with win32 programs running on these portable devices and suddenly there is a big advantage, nonetheless, they are also encouraging Devs to port those Win32 apps to Microsoft Store, which would make the experience even more convenient.   This I believe is their next step but their plan B is already in place through iOS and Android.  By making their services available on other platforms, they are essentially creating and ecosystem through other platforms, while also gaining data from users on those platforms.   They could even give more oems incentives to preload their devices with Microsoft services ..similar to what they have done with samsung. Who knows maybe the Andro in Andromeda is secret for MS releasing an Android device running only MS services ..okk i kid, I kid 😂   ...but yea everything else above is what I personally believe is MS's next step, with a plan b already in motion through Android and iOS.    

In my experience, the people around me didn't choose to not be interested for one reason or another. They simply weren't interested in it bc they didn't know about it and the very few that did, had a low end perception about Windows mobile devices. Their is a big difference between not being interested for ample reasons and not being interested for no reason.
I wonder how many just here at wc have the same experience.

Having a low perception of it, app issues, availability, being too invested in other ecosystem, the original Windows Phone tile screen feeling too bland and not being recommended by sales people.   The fact that people dont know about it also says enough, because Nokia did advertise it like crazy and people bought into it but even then still barely anyone spoke of it or recommended it.    Everyone I tried selling it to, was always like ooooh ahh, that's so nice buut... it was simply very hard to convince anyone because clearly even if they were directly told about it, they put off for their own reasons.

Xbox is already dead to me. Selling it.

Ruining it? Stock has tripled since he took over. Why would they shut down Xbox? Sell it maybe, but not shut it down.

Ummmm, no.

Well, that's that... Moving on

Lol.

At least we got an answer, and conclusion on this whole affair!

Atleast someone said the truth.

For once... But to little too late

I think joe belfore was waiting to complete the 2 years life cycle of the flagship windows mobile. Now nothing is happening so its DEAD

@kunal tipre1; Well, they merged WM components into the main OS so as a separate entity WM is gone until they end the udating for the coprporate devices like HP.  I think their Surface device will be a foldable small factor version will be similar to the Surface laptop and be a pc like the Surface laptop but on an ARM chip but an Intel chip might not be excluded. 

Don't understand how this is some kind of verification for people.. As far as WinMo is concerned, even us that still think MS has something up thier sleeves for Windows on an ultramobile form factor knows that WM in it's current state has limited time left.
.....
Like I said before... WP, WM, and Whatever is to come next, are three different things. The end of "WM" doesn't necessarily mean the end of Windows on mobile devices indefinitely. "killing" WM just might be the beginning of something better, not the end. Nobody here knows, and we're all gonna just have to wait and see...
Now, that's about as unbiased as it gets.

The real issue here is Groove and stuff. Microsoft is moving out of consumer space. And even if they had any hardware up their sleeves, it's got lesser and lesser consumer services. If people are forced to switch platforms, they will switch services too. Who on earth needs Edge on iOS now really? A browser you can't even set s default. Moving out of consumer mobile is the biggest mistake Microsoft can do. And apparently it just does. And I'm really sad, because I simply dislike both iOS and Android. And I'm left to stick with the least bad now. And all right. They will focus on Edge for iOS and Android. With WebKit? Pfff. What for? Does it mean they will throw Edge for desktop in the trash as well? And if not, why not? It's simply nonsense strategy to keep it from now on then. And with Hololense also not getting a lift, Microsoft will become an XBox company, and that's it. And Microsoft complaining about third parties is simply a joke. They were not able to get their own **** out of beta reliability themselves. I'm a bit pissed now at Nadella, but my Lumia 950 is simply still awesome. No matter how hard they were working on "keeping it alive" it still rocks. Until I'm forced finally to buy some Android device and move all my stuff to Google Photos instead of OneDrive. Google docs instead of Office Online and gMail instead of Outlook.com. I have never even had a gMail account in my life. 🤣

You raise some very valid points...
I guess when people think of a mobile device running Windows they can't help but dispel the expectations of what current smartphones, and their ecosystems represent (apps, slim, consumerism, market competition).. I have separated in my mind what an Ultramoble PC with telephony represents, the usage case scenario, demographic, market, and sales expectations, compared to what we are seeing with the smartphone sector of mobile computing... Such a device would survive not by it's popularity, rather it's niche user base that would appreciate such device... MS is out of the smartphone business, people. Forget smartphones when speaking of Windows on mobile.. That's the past. Nobody, I mean nobody, can tell me there aren't different ways of doing things for different people.. Nobody is expected to dump their iDroid phone for an Ultramoble PC, and that was never the case, expectation, or the argument.. The confusion comes about from human nature habits not allowing things to change, or accept new concepts, without seeing everyone else follow first, or at least the same time...

Exactly. As Satya says, nobody needs a third mobile platform. Only this statement coukdn't be any more untrue. The truth is nobody needs it but Microsoft. And Microsoft needs nothing more than this. The Satya strategy of material effectiveness is nothing more or less than the recipe of becoming extinct. All you try to do is keeping your own users, and giving up everywhere you don't already lead. This way you only either lose or maintain the level. Did Apple gain lead in mobile space by giving up on something where they were behind MS for years?

@Gregorius Magnus - Good lord, man, you can stay in the MS ecosystem when you move to Android.  Google's not forcing you to use Google Docs, gmail, or Google Photos.  I moved to Android and continue to use MS services.  In fact, Outlook on Android is the best email/calendar client I've seen on the platform.  And having a gmail account is needed only to get you on the platform.  You don't actually have to use it.

On iOS I would not be able to. On Android I could. But why would I? Outlook.com has troubles displaying it's own provided services, while Gmail does not. Android does not force me to use Google Photos, but does OneDrive support Live Photos of other kind than Microsoft for example? No it does not! What more, it does not support its own Live Photos when in Slideshow for God's sake. So I'm not forced, but why would I!? Simply no reason. Even in Windows Mobile and Phone one uses Microsoft Services, because luckily for Microsoft, competing platforms were neglecting it.

It's called Living Images dude.

Thanks dude. And so does it?

^This what @rodneyej said

The death of MS on mobile, and no respect for it's customers, will lead on to the death of MS on PC. You will see, they have really shot themselves in the foot.

Windows will not die for the foreseeable future, and there's no evidence of that happening so far.
......
Nevertheless, let's test your theory to see how far it goes...
Groove on PC being reliant on mobile? Yes.
Maps on PC being reliant on mobile? Yes.
Skype on PC being reliant on mobile?
Yes.
Outlook on PC being reliant on mobile?
Yes.
Office in PC being reliant on mobile? Not so much.
Photos on PC being reliant on mobile?
You bet your ass it is.
And, so many other services on PC that are reliant heavily on mobile, from a consumer standpoint.
......
I'd say we both agree that at least for MS's most basic services, not including third party apps, they need a mobile device running Windows, featuring their sevices to the max, or Windows overall market share will continue to decline.. End of story.

What do you mean by "X App on PC reliant on Mobile"?  My photos and videos on my Android phone automatically show up on Photos through OneDrive. Android/iOS both have outlook app.   

But why would you use Microsoft's services when you have a Google or Apple phone? Their own services are going to be better integrated and front and center. Microsoft's service are already a bit behind, how can they not only convince someone to change their default apps, but to change them to an inferior option?

@bleached...I want to avoid anything Google if I can...apple products are not designed for me... that's why it's very diappointing that Microsoft is getting out of mobile :)

Prepare for the NOSEDIVE Rodney....I called the windows phone right,  and now I am calling windows itself down the ******* because of this.

LOL Aden, yeah, I can just see all of those corporations abandoning their PCs and Windows-based servers.  Given their investments in the MS ecosystem including support staff skills, where are they going?  MS is an enterprise-first company, and they'll continue to be just that.  

@rodneyej; That's correct as well in my view...

Yes it means the end. Besides fanboys like you, who on earth would waste anymore time and money on Microshit with another failed project? Just because you are unable to land from space, does not mean everyone is having the same delusional problem.

Yes, but very disrespectfully.

Damn.... It's official ! Windows phone is dead :'(

It was already official when Microsoft outsourced tech support for W10M to some hack company in Germany who hires Indians for their tech support staff. What gives? Was it more expensive for Microsoft to keep their Indian tech support staff? 

What's your point ??

My point is that Microsoft's own tech support staff are not very helpful. I've seen many threads where other users found solutions that Microsoft's own staff couldn't provide. It just hurts, as an owner of a Windows 10 Mobile, that Microsoft, who already has bad tech support staff, would outsource tech support for W10M to a company who is even less knowledgeable about W10M. 

Do you have any source for that? Which company was that?

McKaber, the company is B2X. If you want a source, you can try contacting Microsoft about tech support for W10M. They will redirect you to B2X. But here you go, an announcement from Windows Central - https://www.windowscentral.com/b2x-worldwide-customer-care-microsofts-lu.... I even started my own thread about this issue when I couldn't get proper tech support for my Lumia 650. I was so pissed that Microsoft outsourced tech support for W10M - https://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-mobile/464767-cannot-decryp....

Thanks!

could have told you that two years ago.   But none of the fan boys here would believe me.   It was killed internally after the 950 series flopped.  

Since a long time.

Ok good talk Microsoft bye

Well ... crap.

News to no one with eyes and a brain.

Lol.

Closure. That being said, I'm loving my Android phone with Ms Launcher etc. Edge will make it complete. It's not the end of the world.

Yeah, Arrow is great, hopefully they don't eff it up now that they are focusing on its development...

How do you get MS Launcher?

Microsoft Launcher is the new name for Arrow Launcher.

Play store.

well, WP is dead. we all expected that. What about any device powered by CShell? Is there any prospect in the forthcoming future at all?

Nope, not till they fix the store apps

This past week, both Daniel Rubino, and Jason Ward, said that besides MS setting WM aside, they do STILL believe that MS is working on a new type of mobile device. Daniel Rubino literally said that he expects it to be released sometime in 2018.
.....
Now, both have their reasons for saying that, whether it be confirmation from sources, or pure speculation.. So, we are all gonna just have to wait and see what the future holds.

How will that fix the app gap Belfiore mentions?

Don't need them. It will run all windows app as needed. CShell, UWP. U want to run pokeman, get an iPhone.

@Jaimito on a pocket size device you need MOBILE apps!! FANBOY! touch friendly mobile apps...not windows apps! But you are not capable of understanding such a basic thing after all the SHT Nadella's been feeding you.

No.

It's sad but MS new mobile device will not fixe the app gap.  I'm not a mobile programmer but every solution MS gave to help app’s developers in the last few years did not work. The hundreds of million windows 10 users on PC and Tablet did not attract developers… Microsoft “vision” was not executed properly. Nokia did a good job with windows 7, app were present and coming but Microsoft switch from 7 to windows 7.8, 8, 8.1, 10 discourage the developer and the fan… Bad execution! Is the feature of windows mobile an Android skin and Android app emulator for windows 10 PC and Tablet user?

Only two years too late. So what's going to happen first? Does Google become a monopoly, claiming everything in its path? What about Windows 10? What about companies that bought into Windows, like HP? Ugh, I hate being the guy that talks doom and gloom, but seriously, they really didn't try very hard at Windows 10 mobile. So long Windows 10 mobile, I'll miss you. Time to bolster iPhone, they'll need the help to fight against evil Google.

You are so right... Evil google !

Bolster iPhone... Lol. I doubt even if the million or so Windows Mobile users switched to iPhone it would increase Apples market share a fraction towards overtaking Androids billions of users.

Yeah, don't think Google is any more evil than Apple. Google just shows it while Apple hides in the shadows like some kind of tech pedofile.

While Microsoft is the simpleton who is too innocent and naive to be evil!

@final_fantasy781; How about let's support Acatel because someone can make a serious run with a wp type phone device. Nokia can do this as well because they were very good with those Lumias.

HP released a statement last week saying they weren't going to continue with the Windows mobile platform because of Microsoft's lack of interest. My 950XL shattered last week, so I was forced to switch. I'm now using an S8+ and couldn't be happier. I miss the tile interface and live tiles, but there is Launcher 10 if someone really wants the Windows mobile interface on Android. I used it for a bit, and it's just like Windows. Google also contributed to Windows mobile's downfall years ago when they decided to not make any apps for the platform. Android is the Windows of the mobile space, so seeing Microsoft coming in and trying to be the OS for every device couldn't have sat well with Google.

Google and MS have different subsets.. Gaming is MS, Enterprise is MS, PC s MS, Customer level mobile is Google, search engine is google, etc.. etc.. Just as MS is giving away for the most part the Win10 OS for PC to keep their share, Google is doing that with Android. MS will incorporate Google Mobile OS into the PC OS, and let Google pay the cost of developing the Mobile software. Doesnt matter to MS. They make more off patents for Android than WP. Just transfers the cost of development to Google. Remember Android is "Open source" if MS forks it and then uses Cortona, and MS apps only on their version nothing Google can do. 

Hey trolls. Take it easy on the @jason ward comments. I know they are coming from the people who don't understand the context he writes in.

I'm sad and mad that they didn't try harder to get this to work. I know they tried but not at all enough and not in the right places... How do you get off having a community asking for landscape mode year after year amd not deliver? Not even just to say to go suck it with landscape...
For all the neglects WM10 is still way better than iOS and Android. I use all three most every day, and I would choose WM any day except for the lack of apps.
The lack of apps could possible have been helped if they didn't start off with asking devs to make separate apps for WP, RT and Win...
Next stop, some sort of small Win tablet with a decent camera. If those ever get made...

Yup. I've been forced to use Android to drive for Uber. I hate it. It can't even get basic things right, like letting me install my apps on my SD card wihtout needing to root it and mess around with the warranty. I have a Class 10 memory card! I can understand if high end games want to install in internal storage, but even the dumbest alarm clock app or something wants to install in internal storage in Android! And there's a really big Uber competitor in Malaysia called Grab, and it's app uses Play Store permissions to spy on you so that you don't drive for Uber. So not only do I have to deal with 1 Android phone, I have to deal with 2 Android phones just so I don't get shoehorned into just driving for Grab or Uber (they both have their pros and cons). And what happened to call recording on Android? Windows Phone 8 kinda sucked because it couldn't record calls but once Microsoft implemented it in W10M it was pretty okay. I thought call recording should be better on Android. I remember call recording was better on my old Android 4 phone. But now I can't get it to work on my Android 5 and 6 phones. Where are the settings for this? Android smartphones don't feel smart at all. The UI is not intuitive. The settings are purposely made to be a maze because manufacturers and Google want to limit what you can do. And where are the settings? A lot of settings that you can find on Windows are hidden from Android users. The only good things about Android is you can set a DNS. And apps. Apps are like the only good thing people can say about Android. The whole OS depends on apps. It sucks resources. To get the performance of my Lumia 650 on an Android phone would require at least 1 more GB of RAM and a better processor. Android phone cameras are usually marketed for selfies. Comparing other phones in the same price category as my Lumia 650, their cameras are not so good at taking macro shots which makes them less reliable for scanning documents. There's no Live Tiles on Android. You'd probably have to install an app which will suck more resources. Apps are not sorted alphabetically. You always have to go through meaningless pages of icons. Android is not more stable than W10M. Apps still crash. The Android OS sometimes reboots itself. I guess the camera app on Android is more stable on than the W10M one. And it doesn't seem like Microsoft will fix that. Sigh....

Satya will can it like he did the Surface mini

Surface mini wasn't going to succeed. It was a good move.

Same could have been said for the first Surface Pro, bulky, over priced, bad battery life, further generations improved it to be a high quality useable device. satya kills prodcuts before they are given a chance. satya would have killed the entire Surface line before it launched if he was CEO at the time A 3rd gen Sruface mini could have been MS's answer to changing the form factor for smart phones

This guy went on a sabbatical during all of this . . . what did you expect?

He did, didn't he.  I wonder how it feels to be told to go give this type of news?  Nadella should have had the *alls to say give this news himself.  Sounds like a bunch of pink slips might be coming.  Hey most WP users are greiving the death of Groove so why not tell this news now. 

Noticed that his, 'book' is in the Microsoft store online in Australia. Wow, much faster than any product. How *ucking egotistical is this guy????!!!

Is it offered in multiple languages?

Funny that you mention his book.  It reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode - To Serve Man.  It's about an alien who comes to earth and gives the world leaders a book named "To Serve Man".  They thought it was to help man.  But it was a cook book to fatten man up and eat them.  In a sorted kind of way Nadella's book reminds me of that.  "Hit Refresh".  Some might have put zero thought in the title or thought it was innocuous at best , but it actually meant what it stated.  To hit refresh and forget about the consumer market and just move forward primarly servicing the business community like the original days.  This might be proven in the long run to be short sighted, but for now it's just a kick in the teeth to those who has supported this company for a long time.  Well, Apple almost died once.  Then creator of Apple had to come back to save it.  One can only hope the same fate happens to Microsoft after this current CEO leaves or gets fired because he's blinded by the quick buck.

Nothing new, it's just a confirmation of what everyone was already seeing. But now, they could at least unlock the bootloaders for the Lumia 950 line, (evenf if not offially, just give it silently to someone on xda) allowing the dev community to port an android custom rom like Lineage OS. It's better than having them used as paper weights.

Some of us aren't stupid enough to use Android.

Some of us aren't stupid enough to use Android.

Yea, you tell him ScubaDog! We're stupid enough to keep using Windows Mobile...

Nope, just plain stupid.

What choice?

That would just make sales of used Nokia 1020's go sky high ahahahah As much as I'd like that to happen, it's not going to, unfortunately.

Totally.   I would buy another 1020 if I could load android on it.  Or even port android apps on windows mobile.  

Joe, your focus was never on Windows Mobile.

This guy was the one who gave light and soul to Windows phones man !! What can he do apart from following boss's order and investors stupidity

Have some balls.

Get a f'cking haircut and stop using every tech demo to show us pictures of his stupid kids

lol He did get a haircut...good to see MS doesn't discriminate for that.llol

The writing was clearly on the wall 2 years ago, though many refused to see Microsoft's actions, and communications, for what they were. Let's close this chapter and move on....

Whatever THAT means.

What communications? ZERO.

Does anyone still care?

By the number of comments here, many care.

And by the number of people?

No,  it's just a few people making MANY comments.

Anyone with any clue at all says “duh”.  Microsoft gave up a LONG time ago. 

Do you know what's the difference between Google and Microsoft? (and why WP failed).
To best experience Google mobile services use Android, but to best experience Microsoft mobile services use Android!!

Lol

Surface Phone my ass! Argh.. I've feen forced to use Android to drive for Uber, but I HATE it! Free markets will support the best products my ass. The average consumer is a dumb ****. 

Personally, I agree with you there.  I look down my nose at iPhone and Android users, frankly.

So, 99.9% of the population then... Eyes must hurt for looking down so much. Frankly.

Must have a pretty ****** life to be an oldfuck and look down on people all time.    Grow up dawg 

The free market did support the best product. Windows phone was a terrible product unless you loved a subpar, locked down, Applesque experience. In that case you just get an Apple phone not Microsoft's poorly designed copy.

Why did it take this long for an MS exec to perpley addres the situation?

That's the question that WC writers should be discussing.

Typical Microsoft.....Zune devices, Microsoft Streets and Trips, Microsoft Money, RT, Groove, Microsoft Band, Windows Live, Windows Phone, etc., they honestly don't give a f&$@! 

Google and Samsung are the same way, only worse. Apple is just as bad.

No, there is no new mobile device.  He made it clear.  No new hardware. NO new hardware. No Surface phone, no nothing.

And this is why I refused to take part of any insider programs.  It always felt like Microsoft was just using their most fervent fans as guinea pigs.  They were doing all this testing to see how things would work on iOS or Android.  There's their thanks!  You're welcome!  SMDH!

You have been warned of this for years but none of you WP fans heeded the warnings signs

Get lost. Warnings?? It's not a construction site.

That construction analogy is terrible. Do better!

Too bad, the end has eventually arrived. Unfortunately next smartphone has to be an android , wish at least they fixed the performance issues. 😒

RIP Windows Phone. You won't be missed by me.

Anyone want to buy my X3 with lapdock?

Free ?? 😂

Sure, but I charge 800 for shipping.

As much as it sucks to get official word or as close to it as possible, frankly I am just thankful we have been given a clear answer. Move on from WM10. This is sad. I am a very big MS supporter and always give them the benefit of the doubt that they have a master plan. But this pretty much answers the question I have been toying with for the past month. Is it time to make the switch? Answer is Yes. The next question: Android or iPhone??? No point in bashing them, now just have to figure out which platform to move to. Thoughts anyone?

Please, Go with the iPhone. Google is the big reason behind Windows phone failures... Basta** google

It is Google's fault Microsoft made a subpar mobile platform?

That is what I am saying, Google isn't to blame here...Clearly Microsoft didn't have the same vision for Windows Mobile as Google does for Android, a winning vision. Nor did Microsoft have the resolve to continue forward with their shoddy vision, to give it life and refinement.

Partly yes, the app part. It's ALL about apps.

If Microsoft was reliant on a competitor, especially a competitor they were mocking at the time, that is all on them. Nobody was Scroogled but Microsoft.

Not sure I agree with this. Microsoft made it's own bed.

I told you this would happen 3 years ago.
Now I'm telling you this: unless by some MIRACLE Samsung through it's "Dex" makes "using a phone as a PC" a thing (and so far they've failed) Microsoft won't be releasing a "Surface Phone" or anything that remotely resembles a phone. The chances of this "Andromeda device" being released are lower than that of it being just a project that will never see the light of day as a consumer product.

Yep Satya has probavbly already killed Surface Phone like he did most lumai Falgships and Surface mini

Here's my perspective on what he said.  If they are not looking at consumers, and are not going to work on new mobile hardware, then there really is NO point to the UWP thing and no point to the Windows on ARM.  If they are concentrating on rewriting all their programs for iPhone and Android, and that's where most users are, UWP dies on what's left because there's no point.  They are painting themselves into a corner and they are too ignorant to see that. If I and sick enough to like iPhone and Android, and I've got every single app/service I could want on one of those devices, why on earth would I give a flip about UWP on a Windows PC?  Nadella and his chiefs are fools, plain and simple.

They cannot solely survive on PC market now or even cloud services. They will be Insignificant by the next decade.

Of course they can. Microsoft is already doing it.

Yes, for now, until Enterprise that is linked to consumers in many ways, will also change, and then they are totally *ucked.

In 5 years they will be IBM 2.0 and irevlent to Consumers. Hope they sell Xbox to a company that gives a damn and can support Xbox users.

Nah, in 5 years Microsoft will be the same and bigger.

Anybody want to buy a nice T-Mobile Idol 4S with Windows 10? Cash or take over payments. (Please note: This pose is not intended as an offer to sell the above mentioned device. I is intended to express my immediate response to the attached article.)

I got a 950 and 950 xl in the same position...yea what he said so what say you?

Well that's a nice bit of news to start the week. Glad it finally got said and though bitter sweet, glad it was Joe that dropped the news. Anyway as i said many times before no current iOS or Android device really excite me so until my 950XL kicks the bucket, I'm looking forward to the continued feature2 releases.

Anyone who didn't already know this is delusional. I am a W10M user and can't wait for it to die. It was never going to be a player. The faster we get to Windows Core OS running on ARM, the better. The success of the next phase for Microsoft mobile strategy will not involve us 1%, but the 95%+ on Android and ios that will see it for the 1st time.

If you think ios and android users are interested in some magical Windows device you're the delusional one.

Yes they will be, not from the phone perspective but your close mind won't see that. Just like nobody was interested in Surface or 2 in ones when they launched

It isn't that simple. Surface devices form factor wasn't the leading cause of sales. It was full Windows 10. And no one cares about Windows Phone without apps

Exactly and this is my point. The next Windows mobile device will be Windows 10, which does have apps unlike Windows 10 Mobile. Apps like iTunes, Sling TV, Trello, Spotify, and so many more are available in the Store. Developers will not develop for W10M but they will continue to develop for Windows 10

That's the hope. But for now the future seems bleak towards a mobile device.

Windows 10 has legacy programs. It doesn't have apps.

Yes it does, I just mentioned a few that are not on mobile

Those are all legacy programs. They don't have 5" or touch interfaces.

That's what Cshell is for, to make it responsive to all screen sizes

It doesn't magically make apps resize. Just the interface. It doesn't change anything. Microsoft won't go in that direction. They will release no more phones in the current paradigm.

Not initially they won't, but they will release Windows 10 on Snapdragon 835 this Holiday season so we will see how that goes first.

Do you know what app is short for? Application. Everything that runs on Windows is an "app".

Application was shortened to indicate a touch focused, simpler application for mobile devices. Microsoft doesn't have those as Joe mentions in his tweets.

Yeah, not sure about that because Chrome OS will develop.

I'll have to disagree seeing that w10 wasn't available when the surface dropped nor when Surface took off

The Surface is a laptop. Microsoft has a fine ecosystem for a laptop.

I fell sorry for all the devs. just gave 10$ to mytube :)

I don't think there will be much of a difference for developers. Developers like the one behind myTube will still have their apps on Xbox and Windows desktop (assuming they made UWP apps.)

Pathetic. Nutella please retire and start writing books. O wait, you already did.

Windows central is killing the phone section news ... !!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 next headlines..

Can't write about what doesn't exist.

Jason... I kid i kid

There are still those of us who don't want to be in Apple's walled garden, nor a targeted advertising point in which to generate profits for Google. We need a third ecosystem, despite what Nadella thinks. Here's hoping Tizen isn't dead yet.

I thought Nadella had excellent ideas but turned out he runs a business that's it.. Down sizing and cutting off essential areas would be a double edged sword in his ass

If Samsung manages to iron out all the security issues and perhaps take a risk on creating a Tizen Flagship...They might sell. It's been months ago since I read that article stating which discusses the major coding and security flaws. I am still looking into Tizen as the situation may have changed since June...

What a complete and total failure. Here's a company, and CEO, that are completely shortsighted, and narrow minded, not to mention cowards. I can go on how they could have avoided this, but it's already been said, and saying it again, won't make any changes.
One more thing.....
Mastermind...Nadella... LOL.....ROTFL....LMAO
The lies, and conjecture, they have spread in the last year alone, will hurt them in more places, that they can see now.
The Writing is on the wall.
Microsoft/Nadella, horses with blinders on. Not seeing the true picture.
They are in position now, to make moves to displace the Iphone. The iphone popularity is fading.
Who cares, right?
Just my opinion... ;)
Somebody give Nadella, the Mensa test, I don't think he'll make genius level, but then again, who knows.....cough choke, sorry something stuck in my throat.
Not too mention, he's a pompous ass, for putting out a book, long before he's proven he worth.
A few cloud gains now, does not signify a long term gain.
Blah. Blah......

so cortana is now dead, who is going to use cortana on an IPhone or a pc and say play led zeplin. oh yea only google now can do that or siri, I think its a mistake dumping mobile they can still release phones it does not hurt anything,and I can't beleive it cost that much ...they are not IBM and they will be blown away with google now the search default on IOS and bing is being left behind .. for what becaue  the new CEO did not vote for the nokia purchae, this is bull...

I really hope there is no one out there who needs more confirmation than this. Last year I said on twitter I was done and saying goodbye because windows phone is dead. People tried to tell me otherwise. 1 year and some months later it's all playing out. Glad I switched and I'm happy with my LG G5. Gonna miss windows phone.

I think anyone can switch at anytime they need.  I think it was the fact of the matter. Some of us need a plain yes or no.  Others like me really enjoy and get more from W10M than the other platforms.  Despite whatever apps are lacking...I need only a couple to get by myself. I have seen plenty of writing on the wall in my life time and really until it is laid out bare for all to see I won't budge.  Not being stubborn, just need it to come from the hourses mouth ya know.  Glad to see Joe was honest and willing to say no more mobile phones period.  None the less this past month was all leading up to it.

Microsoft broke up with us over Twitter. Hahaha

Better than a war declaration over Twitter.

Next question. When will Satan Nutella close all the MS retail stores? It's coming.

good point, it costs $$$$ to run and maintain brick and mortar stores, and most buy off of amazon/online..

i realy love windows 10 OS... hope they come up with new phone in 2018... i was using 1520 for 4 years and now i'm using alcatel Idol 4s and it is amazing!

Did you just wake from a tech coma?

I love this response! HAHAHAHA Nailed it!

I agree with you and I still use my Lumia 930 without any problem for 3 years

So the day has come! I always said i would hang on as a loyal user since WP7 until MS dropped the towel. Now let me sit in my couch, take a deep breath, play sad music in dim light and decide on which way to go...Android or iOS.

The peak for me was my Lumia 1020, superb phone and camera. Nokia supported it well. I now have a s7 edge I like it but don't love it. Such a shame Microsoft didn't want to make the investment, I feel it was at a tipping point three years ago and needed another major push. The plan to own Nokia was brilliant with he right investments could have been a viable but risky choice. The New CEO just didn't want to take that risk. The rest is history. I just see xbox going this was too the Xbox One X kind of the 1020 device.

Well maybe now this website will stop saying there's "hope" for Windows Phone lol

I mean, we've mostly all been saying the same. If you're referring to opinion pieces, that's what they are. Opinions.

what you have been doing is trying to interpret what was happening, unless you are saying MS told to a year or so ago...which i highly doubt.
.which means it was all opinions...

Its not just Windows Mobile that's dead, Windows as a platform is dead. Who is going to bother making Apps for PC and Xbox when there is no Mobile platform. Its time people start looking to switching PC operating systems to Google's OS.

Google might pick up with chrome Os and MICROSOFT will be redundant and eventually shut off.

Exactly, now it all makes sense - Windows 10 is last system as they said long time ago so now all releases are just to maintain it due to the scale. Microsoft is going to be just Azure and few other infrastructure services :/ For a very committed user since years and somebody who loved their WP7 and W8 metro/modern revolution in interface - now it is all gone :/ Also it's hard to trust them in anything now :/ Now I regret that I didn't choose Apple like most people years ago. 

Windows on PC is not dead. Devs had no problem writing apps for PC and not bothering about Mobile for a few years now. Spotify is gorgeous on PC and Xbox, horrible on Mobile. Netflix allows downloads on PC, hasn't been properly updated on mobile in years. There are hundreds and hundreds of other examples. And majority of PCs do not rely on the App Store.

And what should I do, if I need a 5 inch device that runs UWP apps? OneLocker and Grover Pro being the two main examples, but there are several others... F*ck this whole retrenchment. Belfiore was one of the biggest WP enthusiasts inside MS. And now he's using android... Can I believe in WinCore OS anymore?... :/

Nope Sir

UWP is also dead. Expect that announcement in the next year.

UWP is getting stronger and stronger, and will never die.

That doesn't fit with reality. UWP has been a train wreck. It was the reason Windows phone failed according to Joe. I wouldn't expect much going forward. What is the point with no phone platform?

No, he didn't say it failed because of UWP. But because there weren't enough big name apps coming, that can run on mobile.

Same thing. What is the point of UWP without mobile? Why develop for UWP and miss out on W7 and the majority who do not use the store?

Because the Store is growing on PC. And because of Xbox, Mixed Reality, iot, etc... W7 will be phased out, as it's support will end in 2020.

No way Microsoft is still pushing UWP in 2020. No point. Win32 had much more users and isn't going anywhere.

We should consider UWP apps and Store apps separately. I think UWP are generally a frame work for mobile devices and will fail. However, Store apps converted from Win32 apps are promising.

Said the fanboy who said windows 10 mobile would never die.  Apps are not for desktop,  uwp is doomed 

How can u say that when MS doesn't even build UWP's?

people are so stupid they even relate his statement to the "dead of WP" , MS IS A SOFTWARE COMPANY , they dont need new hardware or features , windows phone 10 will still get update but as for HARDWARE AND FEATURES this phone OEMS job .

Good try.

And since there are no hardware OEMs that's basically it.

Finally they said it officially.

Truly and honestly disappointing but I also believe they'll regret this decision long term.

Translation...."F--- our WP users. We could care less".

We couldN’T care less. now it seems as though they do ;-)

couldn't*

Nah, more like: "we would care less if we could!"

Nadella made a big mistake pulling out of the smartphone business. Regarding market share, look what Apple has been able to do with a small market share. Microsoft needs new leadership. It needs leadership that doesn't think the world only needs or wants two OS's for Phones. One day, a third OS will arrive and will be successful. It could have been Microsoft. What a waste of billions of dollars and customer goodwill.

Apple had at least 5x the marketshare of Windows phone and was only selling high end devices. There is no comparison.

Do you forget Windows Mobile 6? And Apple starting from 0% share?

The iPhone was a total device revolution. Microsoft doesn't have anything like the iPhone in 2007. That isn't what he is referring to. He means Apple and there 15% market share today.

stil waiting on a pc 6", with a sim. I really don't care for apps, give me a messenger that can talk to all type of communication. When webapps are getting common this will be big hit.

Well, he was the one who went on a trip to Japan with an iPhone if I'm not wrong...I don't trust him and I don't care about his tweets. Personally I don't see any difference between a Windows Mobile device and a Windows on ARM device, so what's this all about? Why they keep stressing that Windows Mobile is dead, WoA is its natural evolution...

Always knew Joe didn't have his heart in it

The could be at least present on the market with 10-30% market share thanks to Nokia. So this is now the end for Windows in long term, many of us hoped for one system on all devices. Now finally I'm really thinking about switching to Apple because it's posible there and product line is stable - would never expect that I'll say this :/

This has been clear for some time.

Switched to iPhone 8+. Miss Windows and One Drive. Am testing Edge. But Safari seems fine.

Like someone cares. Almost everyone will switch to Android anyway.

You have OneDrive on iOS. Its a 130MB app ;)

Isn't OneDrive available on iOS?
Also, have you found a suitable replacement for myTube on iOS? I picked up an Android tablet, and found that despite the mocking W10M gets for lacking an official YouTube app... The official app seems pretty terrible compared to myTube. Haven't found anything comparable for Android yet.

What Microsoft doesn't understand is the halo effect this has on their platform. Azure and Office will fail as Windows fails...I know it will take years, but Windows will fial because of this. When it does they are toast in the cloud. They have no leadership and won't be IBM 2.0, they will be pushed out by Amazon, Google, and Apple. I think we are wittnessing the end. Without the Windows platform there is little reason to use any of their products or sevices.

You don't understand enterprise if you think azure and office are going anywhere, that's one of the few areas they are actually relevant in.

They do and no it won't.

I came here from webOS, and my takeaway is that i have the power to kill platforms! When my x3 dies which platform should i destroy next? All tongue in cheek of course. Deja vú all over again

 Same here, but with Blackberry 10.

Nokia N9 (Meego) and BlackBerry Z10 here (and I also wanted a Palm Pre). :-D Windows 10 was the first Windows I've enjoyed since Windows 2000, but I guess it'll go in the gutter too. I give it 15 years, tops (no more consumer stuff after that). 5 years for Cortana.

I came here from webOS, and my takeaway is that i have the power to kill platforms! When my x3 dies which platform should i destroy next?

It's actually more real than you probably realize. The die-hard WinPhone (and BlackBerry, and WebOS) users are just the kind of folks this article is talking about.   https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/12/certain-customers-spell-doom-for-new-products/ 

Corporate focus on market niches

I had to switch to Android as my employer only gives our Android phones. As a former Windows Mobile user I am happy to have the MS launcher which gives me some parts of Windows on Android. I hope MS will be able to customize my phone even more in the future. Want them to implement the family feature to Android phones, so I can manage my children's account through windows 10. Until then my kinds stay on Windows.

Moved to Android (OnePlus 5) months ago and been VERY happy. Dropped in/configured "Launcher 10" and haven't looked back. Now, I not only have tiles, I also have apps. It's not perfect, but it's WAY better than W10M ever was.

Sad! I and 2 other at my work have ditched our laptops for the use of continuum. We have never had the need for heavy work and when citrix finally was working in continuum, a new and lighter world opened up. Dock - work - run out - to customers ! We have all been waiting for a phone with the full win experience..... Now ... Depression

i do not get why people complain, low volumes is an obvious reason not to invest in it, anyone with logic would do it to, if u say otherwise u are lying to yourself unless u have a golden formula to turn things around. Releasing a surface phone in this state will not bring people back to the MS mobile platform, it would be for THE SPECIFIC FANS. it has to come with something so spectacular and someone of MS saying.. We filled the app gap with famous apps people want and use one a daily base and we continue to deliver to keep that gap filled, and we WILL fully support the phone on all ends during its lifespan 3 years into the potential next phone. < i am 99% sure it'll never happen. I keep using my Win10 mobiles cause i love them above ios and android, but my hope for something cool and positive for win10 mobile is past me. I am currently looking forward to the Razer gaming mobile phone.

Sad days. But with android being so bad and my hatred for apple, I'm now digging out my trusted Nokia 3310 from the 80s :(

Yeah I've seen apple fall a number of times in my life and Alphabet is no smarter. I wouldn't count out MS just yet. No one thought W10M was getting any more love before this tweet fest anyway. The thing most of us are upset about is the secrecy around Core OS and WoA plans. Everyone knows they are they, but no specifics or buzz is there.

Well at last an honest waffle free statement on phone. Microsoft is out. They should have said this a year ago to save users the indecision of buying a new phone. These are expensive purchases. We should thank Joe for his honesty but Microsoft should have said this months ago.

@stephen, 10000% agree.

It was obvious W10M was doomed during Microsoft's lukewarm announcement of the 950. If you still thought it had a future in 2016, you weren't paying attention.

Nadella is a supercilious man that releases a book about his pompous believes while he should be at work. How much of a joke will that book be when his personae materializes as being the worst CEO for Microsoft ever. What he has done to Microsoft... He has killed what defined the existence of Microsoft. Windows as a whole is on life support and Microsoft apps on other mobile operating systems are a false bet. Product after product, service after service will be terminated until Nutella finds himself alone with his Azure/cloud fetish that nobody wants. It will be slow, it will be painful for every Microsoft fan. It's better to get as far away as possible from every Microsoft product or service.
And Windows central can better rename once again. Perhaps Microsoft enterprise central is a nice name.

So... no apps for Windows Mobile but what does that mean for Windows itself. If there are no apps for mobile then the UWP strategy is not working then Windows will die the same death WP is dying now. This retreat is absurd. They can just close the consumer business if they are going this route and become Azure and dev tools company.

We all saw this coming I'm sure - and at least someone at MS has actually said it. But still, it's such an arrogant statement. MS killed Windows Mobile, they are the only ones responsible for the fact that devs didn't flock to the platform, and users abandoned it. I am still using my Lumia 640XL, but it's my last Windows phone. Going back to Android (after many years with WP) in the next month, just going through which phone I want.

What are your choices so far?

Right now, I am really liking the look of the Blackberry KeyONE. I do a lot of mailing on my phone, and I have big hands (previously used a 1520), so most on-screen keyboards are a pain to use. It's not just the hardware keyboard (which could be interesting, as in the early days of smart phones, a hardware keyboard was a must thing for me!

I'm with you deathmetal. I'm still using a Lumia 1520 (big hands as well) after someone stole me 650 a month ago. Before jumping in on a WP8 920, I was using a Samsung Blackjack which was a Windows Mobile 6.x phone that has an actual button keyboard.

This really does feel like the tipping point. I don't believe you can be in the consumer space with out being in mobile in some form. Like others have said, it would appear that Surface and Xbox would be next. Maybe not in the next year or so, but I would imagine Surface devices phase out by then and Xbox is spun off. Never thought I would say it, but I long for the days of Balmer.

I'll continue to use my 950 until the apps stop working. Those apps are Camera, Spotify, Outlook, Office, and Messaging. Everything else is just extra.

Question is, what department is next? And is Windows 10 next? His twitter posts are horrible excuses as to why this decision made sense to them.
Had he said, thanks to fans, oems, devs, we have moved our focus. I wouldn't be as salty, but excuse after excuse, blah. Why stay a MS fan period?
I don't like Apple, iOS, Mac, or Google's business practices. I have started to delete unused MS apps and services proactively before they do it for me.

That's all I wanted to hear for the last year. I am done blaming Microsoft, should've, would've, could've, it doesn't matter, They tried, even gave money, to incentivise devs but it wasn't enough. Regardless I will enjoy my 950 for as long as I can. At least it is getting bug fixes, which is all I ask for.

That does it. The Lumia 950 is the last Windows Mobile device I'm ever going to buy. 😄

Having half assed apps on their platform was only one of the problems. I personally never cared about the so called "app gap" and I still doubt the seriousness of the investment into bringing first party apps to the platform by paying money to those companies. I cared more about the uniqueness of the OS's own hub concept. But the main app players didn't like to give up control (to the user). The main problem for a successful push into the market was licensing. MS started to demand a hefty fee from Hardware OEMs. Just as the old MS did with Windows Desktop. Then, the phones were way to expensive. They showed with the XBOX that you can beat the existing players and squash them by heavily subsidising the XBOX device. They should have done the same with Windows Phone 7. No license fees and pay the HW OEMs to shell out phones. No shareholder would have complained.

When I moved to Windows phone in 2012, I jumped in with both feet. Signed up for Xbox music, bought all my movies and TV shows on Xbox video, moved my life to the cloud in one drive and office 365. I was a loyal all-in fan. And my reward for loyalty is a phone platform in decline, a music service abandoned work little notice, and a video service I'm sure that will end in the same, slow agonizing death as the rest. Lesson learned! MS lacks the ability to market and deliver on innovation even when they are the first out the gate with the next hot thing. I'll never trust Microsoft again, neither will alot of other burned fans, no matter how "cool" or forward thinking their next product is. I've already begun the move to Google, who I know will support their mobile strategy and entertainment services beyond the next quarter. So long Microsoft, it's had not been fun

Well it seems I saved myself a lot of agony and wasted years of hope when I left after they cancelled the McLaren. Android really has been an excellent change of pace. I wanted to return to fully matured, not missing any apps OS but that never happened and as much as I wanted a Surface Phone that very well may never happen either. I'm saddened by this news even if it seemed imminent anyway.

As far as I am concerned, without live tiles -- there is no advantage to having a smartphone.  Flip phone for me! I would be surprised it this does not signal the eventual death knoll of Windows itself.  After all, nutella has shown his willingness to alienate users in droves (maybe not huge drives, but they can all add up).  I give you Band, RT, Windows Phone, WIndows 10 Mobile.  Microsoft had the killer app in Continuum, but barely marketed it.  On top of that, they could have cornered the enterprise but instead gave all their apps to the competition first.  The MS focus on cloud first eliminates any dependence on an operationing system or even browser.  When Windows and Edge go, along with them will go Bing and Cortana.  After all, who will use them....  Google and Apple will make it nearly impossible for that to happen.  And without the might of WIndows, can XBOX survive?  Doubtful.  It appears that, under current leadership, they just want to grab what they can and bail. This has been in the works ever since Balmer left, anybody who said otherwise was lying to us.  I don't like to be lied to, and like even less doing business with companies that are so willing to screw its customers.  30+ years ago, I decided to leave the mainframe world and grab onto the Microsoft world.  I have never regretted that until recently, now I believe that it may have been the worst mistake I have ever made.

No, they really didn't. Continuum was nothing and nobody, literally nobody, cared.
Even the companies that copied it have moved on.

What companies copied it? Continuum was the copy. Motorola had that functionality first.

Not really correct.  Continuum was something that could have been well received by the 'road warrior' community.  Imagine if the marketting would have actually taken hold of this so that all these people would have had to have with this is their phone and a dock to connect to a mouse, keyboard, and TV to stay connected on the road.  No more laptops to lug around, you have cell connection when needed....  And. it worked!!!  I always wondered how that wasn't the big sell to the corporate base, but now I know.  The powers in control wanted Windows 10 mobile to die and NEVER had the kahones to actually man up and tell us that.  They wanted it gone, and most importantly, with Balmer's name on it!  So, they diitched the Nokia arm, put many people on unemployment lines, and told everybody who would listen that they had fought the valiant fight but the mistake was one that had to be dealt with.  nutella got exactly what he wanted, customers screwed and he looks like a hero to wall street.

What happens if you don't have a display to plug your dock into? You still have to carry around a keyboard and mouse too. What is the point? A Surface Pro or Ultrabook isn't bulky at all and gives a much better experience than Continuum. No amount of marketing would make such a flawed product successful.

With one of those devices, you usually don't have a built in connection.  And, in a hotel room, you have a TV that could be connected to.  As far as the keyboard/mouse -- do you actually think that some hotel chain wouldn't start cashing in on having those available with TV hookup in the room.  Even if they did charge a small fee, they'd just sell it as a 'business class' room.  Could've been huge, but now it is a moot point that can be debated.  Thanks to satya

The TVs in hotel rooms tend to be locked down to force you to use their services. Selling a product that doesn't work today, in the hopes that you will sell enough to change infrustructure, is a dumb idea. Continuum was a dumb idea. Sacrificing your phone experience just so you can carry around a very poor PC experience that probably won't even work at your destination is just dumb. Microsoft stopped pursuing it almost immediately. I am sure they quickly realized how bad of an idea it was. Why they didn't fully think it through in the first place, I don't understand.

Spoken like someone who probably never used the product!  Contrary to what you may have read from the haters, it worked, and was an acceptable experience, abeit not a Surface Studio. As far as the hotels, just like anything else -- give them a way to sell something the competition doesn't and they will. They are all about making money, and there could have been money to be made!

There were no apps. The only apps that did work could only be run in full screen, one at a time. It wasn't an acceptable experience, no where near it. Everyone laughed at it but the fanboys.

That is what I thought....  Never tried it, just know what you read.  Sorry to tell you, but you can't believe everything you read.  Really should try it before you claim to know...  reading does not an expert make, sorry!

What was wrong with what I said? It only ran one app at a time and only ran a very limiited number of apps in the already limited Windows store. Is that an acceptable desktop experience for you? A Chromebook is more useful.

Another fail :D

Thank you Satia "Lazaridis" Nadella. We loved the way you killed (softly and merciless) Windows 10 Mobile, among other consumer-related products and services. Now please, if you don't mind, kill the XBox as well, turn Windows into some sort of cloud service crap, and sell Cortana to any Chinese sex doll manufacturer. IBM is getting too old, and the world is desperately waiting for an IBM 2.0

That's how much MS respects it's loyal customers, tweeting news that should have been an official release. Thanks for nothing Joe. Why would I go to Android or iOS? Just because you guys are pathetic at marketing, bad at relationships with OEM's, can't stick to one plan? What about the people that have purchased Windows phones such as the X3, Alcatel Idol, Acer Jade? WTF. Can never trust you monkeys again. No guts, no vision, no brains - poor talent pool for such a large company. Microsoft's lack of communication is deplorable. I've seen better run corner shops than MS. Disgusted!! I expect that when Chrome OS takes over and you guys are desperate is when you will learn how to respect people and communicate?

Hate to say I told you so. They don't need your mobile revenue. They're getting enough selling you Office Software you really don't need when you can download free stuff that works well.  The fans here that blindly invested in everything Microsoft vomited made it easier for them to shrug off mobile. They make more money off of you through services.  They probably have already sold you an XBox. You're using Windows 10 on your PCs. You're probably subscribed to Office 365.  They don't need you on mobile, and they can't really attract a decent user base there because the App situation is dire. None of the big players are developing for Windows Mobile (Google, Amazon, Apple, etc.).  Resetting the platform again won't help, either, so good luck with CShell.  Microsoft probably should have forked Android. I think developers would have brought their Android. But they are not going to do a heavy port of their Apps if the user my bets aren't there.  UWP was a good idea, in theory, but not all that great practically.  So now they have a UWP UX designed for mobile, but no relevant smartphone platform.  They butchered the UX on their flagship product for nothing. Rich...

Mark my words. In a year or so they will say that Windows Mixed Reality is no longer a priority. Hope you enjoyed your $500 MR headset.

Well, we knew it, at least Microsoft finally admitted to it..

although i have a htc vive, i was going to preorder the samsung odyssey, but will hold off on that for a year or so....

Enough pressure from enough people can change the decisions of a mighty corporation. It seems as if Microsoft is like many politicians.....out of touch with their constituents. Their head might be in the cloud, but there are people who want a Windows Phone. And to bury it through a tweet.... that's middle finger to us who support their products. Windows Phone is worthy of a concerted effort to reverse a bad decision.

There are not many people wanting a Windows phone. Sales were always terrible.

Well to be frank Microsoft had market shares above 15% in some countries with Windows Phone, raised even higher with Windows Mobile. Sadly these are the countries still among the highest Microsoft market shares today, that were still waiting for Microsoft to launch their mobile-related services for the users. Groove Pass died without seeing it. Same for Cortana and what have they. Simply a spit in the face.

You tout a percentage of some random countries, but how many sales was that? You don't give sales numbers because they were tiny. A small percentage of a small market selling dirt cheap phones with no profit is not good. Sales were always terrible.

Folks who don't like it didn't have to buy it, but I love my 735, and Alcatel Fierce Touch. I think they should have stayed in the phone os business. They didn't need to worry about market share. All they had to do was to offer a product at a price they could stand and it would help their other efforts, such as 365. Sales would have improved, especially if they had invested some elbow grease in marketing. I went into stores of two different carriers and was basically laughed at when I stated I wanted a Windows phone. Microsoft could have made better decisions on price, etc, but there's another big thing that would have eventually helped their market share: people are sick and tired of bloatware and all of the uninstallable apps on droind & iOS. I strongly disagree with Nadella on the need for a third ecosystem. I think we definitely need an alternative to iOS and droid. Can you imagine what if someone managed to wipeout a huge hunk of one of those os's?  

One can infer the new smaller don't-call-it-phone mobile Andromeda device will be "business" focused. But, unless it can replace 100% of the functionality of a typical corporate laptop, it will have a hard time being accepted. And if it does offer that level of capability, it will cannibalize the laptop market. Tough dilemma, yet, what MSFT must do.

Why would you replace your laptop with such a device?

Ok Joe Belfiore, how about a buyback credit for those of us who purchased W10M phones through the Microsoft store with credit going towards the purchase of a new Android or iPhone. How about offering Signature Edition Android and iPhones in the Microsoft store? As much as I love my L950 and L950XL, I think I could be persuaded to switch, under the right circumstances.

Pixel XL with Launcher. Not looked back.
Glad Joe has finally put it to bed. There isn't going to be a surface phone either, people really still cling to that? Never going to use Apple tbf, been there, hated that. Samsung bloat can FRO too. Looking like a Pixel 2 in the new year.

Also MS ****** up the App Store for business apps big time. It was damn difficult to get LOB (Line Of Business) apps into a store or a company wide only store. SOOOO diffucult. They had businesses already hooked with Active Directory and could administer Windows Phone from the same server. Bring you own device as a secure matter. Something that Apple finally understood. Back then businesses wanted to migrate to an All MS solution. MS made it maximum difficult.

I really really hoped that microsoft will bring new flagship phone ,but now I saw this news ,it's time for me to change to other platform for now  .I wished i could be a hardcore window phone fan but it's not possible for me now at the moment .Maybe will return back to window phone when microsoft make a new flag ship phone.So sad :(

Well, that's not surprising. At least SOMEONE at Microsoft finally owned up to it. Wish they had said it when I was first eligible to upgrade 6 months ago. That, and I wish they'd own up to their end of the mistakes, rather than just saying "devs wouldn't commit because of users." Devs and users also wouldn't commit because Microsoft wouldn't. They were incredibly sow and inefficient with device releases. They canceled McLaren. They sent the 930 to Verizon as an exclusive, never giving 920 users a true upgrade path on AT&T. Why they chose an antagonistic carrier (see: Verizon and the Kin) over the one carrier who kept backing the platform (see: AT&T and the Lumia 900 and 920 and 1020) was beyond logic. They never gave the 1020 a successor. They bought Nokia, basically gutted the staff, then tried to sell a mid-range 830 as a flagship on AT&T, which was just a slap in the face to 920 users who saw basically no meaningful hardware improvements with that 830. Then, they killed the spirit of the 950 when they released it only in black and white (hiding color options behind obscenely expensive Mozo cases that took forever to launch in polycarbonate). They basically paid $7 billion to kill Nokia's mobile crew, then let Nokia rebuild and go to Android while they made Lumia a laughingstock. They never committed to an OS, switching from WM to WP7 to WP8 to W10M, all the while segmenting and poisoning the user base in the process. There was never a period beyond about 12 months that anyone could look at what Microsoft was doing and see stability. They never had an entrance ramp for the mass market or big developers. I guess so much for "One Windows," as they seem to be bouncing around on how mobile will work for them, even now. I'll consider an LG V30 or something, but I also can't help but wonder if they'll push out a Surface Phone with a new W10 OS inside someday. I still like my 950, but the battery life's becoming a wreck and the top-notch camera's been surpassed many times over. Hard to say what to do these days.

Obviously AT&T wasn't working. The 920 was a flop so they probably weren't excited for more Windows phones. Microsoft was lucky to even get Verizon to back the Icon.

I now have three inactive phones (920, 930 and 950)lying inactive in the drawer plus a lot of wasted energy to keep the platform running - not OK Microsoft - you fooled me :-(

What does this leave Panos Panay left to innovate on? No more band, no more mobile, Surface can't be it, can it???

Maybe he can innovate on Android since Microsoft has given up on their own OS. Android pretends to be for smartphones, but it can't get basic things right, which makes Android smartphones feel really dumb. 

Basic things? What does Android get wrong? It is a million times more powerful than Windows phones. There is a reason Windows fans never adopted Windows phones. They were a locked down, hyper limited walled garden. The exact opposite of Windows.

With Microsoft's reduced focus on hardware, I wouldn't be surprised if an Apple, Samsung, Amazon or Google (via their Pixel-HTC hardware division) hires him away. In fact, I'd say that he's probably already getting offers to run other companies, and there probably isn't much left at Microsoft to interest someone who is hardware focused.

Part of me wishes that MS would take all the consumer IP they have, whether it be mobile, band, groove/zune, or whatever, and spin it into another company, one that does focus on consumers! That company would make a killing. I don't buy JB saying the apps weren't coming, because in Europe they were. I know many people recently that have had Windows Phone, and didnt want to switch but had to because the hardware wasnt available. MS backed out too early, again. C'est la vie.

5+ years wasn't long enough?

Not when the keep changing everything ever 5 minutes. They finally had their one core, and they decide to drop it.

They never wanted to drop products, they just failed so hard they were forced to. That is what happens when you make garbage.

Their products weren't actually garbage though. There was the fault with the band 2 strap, I'll grant you, but I'm yet to find anything that has all the same features, battery life, and looks half decent. Everything else I've owned made by them has been good.

My heart is completely broken.

But let my Icon get the Fall Creator's update on Insider. As an insider, I know the risks, and it should be my choice to make.

Ive lost nearly all respect for Microsoft, am seriously thinking of changing out company software to something else, but what!

Don't fool yourself. Microsoft products are what businesses run on.

Microsoft have always told their customer what they want and need for decades, and funnily enough we believed them. Not any more, gobally people have spoken and their want and needs have been met by others very successfully. Microsoft are in the wilderness and until they bring back Bill they will remain there.

I'm just going to go out and vent outside the window for several years. Because that's how long it will take my frustration at Microsoft to cool down.

Finally an upfront answer.  I cannot use Android for corporate sync.  They will not support Android at the moment, as Android can be risky for any enterprise.  iOS is too dang expensive for me to invest in.  Not sure what to do if after 2019 I am unable to use the Elite X3 much further...but at least that is good amount of time ahead to see what else comes about.

If you don't care about the app gap why wouldn't you keep using your x3? It's not going to spontaneously stop working.

Updates and support for current apps will probably stop. 

Apple is too expensive but you have an Elite X3?!

At least someone at MS now had the decency to give us a straight answer. Although they should have done this a year ago! Why even release a mobile device with Core OS now? After MS ****** over every developer and manufacturer that invested in Win10M, why would they be tempted to have a go at a device running Core OS? If MS had given a straight answer last year, at least they could have saved face, and some trust among the dev community.

In Europe Windows phone 8.x was doing rather well. By the time the cheap android handsets hit the market, we didn't have a wide variety of flagship phones. So many miss steps and burnt bridges. It's making my head spin, just thinking about them. Beyond frustrated.

Windows phone wasn't doing well at all ever. Sales were poor at all times despite getting 10% of some irrelevant European market. That didn't even move the needle.

@bleached. You'll only see what you want to see.

thats what some on the site dont understand, if you cant pay a dev to develop on wm, why would they all of a sudden develop on core OS.

Yeah anounce retrenchment and then wonder y devs r not adopting

The screen on my Alcatel Idol 4s cracked 3 weeks ago. I was torn between getting another Idol or trying the Elite X3 on t-mo. Today I made my decision and got a Galaxy S8. 😕 After using Windows Mobile/Phone exclusively for 13 years, I couldn't justify staying once I read Joe's tweet. I know it won't be all rainbows and sunshine in the Android world, but at least I will have access to the HE and SW of today instead of always waiting for tomorrow.

Gosh. What a surprise.

The constant negative news and abandoning of consumer products (even knowing all along) has finally made me switch fully to a different eco system.
I cannot afford to continue spending money and building my online profile based on MS product that could get canceled at anytime.
Outside of my Windows PC and my Xbox I have or will finish switching away from MS product.
I'm sure this will get salot of hate responses but I truly say this just as being unable to rely on MS services and not out of any hate towards ME.

What, Bring microsoft experience to other platform? how do you bring Toyota experience to Honda, Mac experience to Linux, Jet blue experience to Americans? They need to be more specific. With their tendency of abandonning a service when it get tough for them is the reason consumers won't adopt their experience. I'm getting a Iphone.

Prediction for next 10 years -
- In less than 6 months Microsoft Movies and TV is turned into just a Video Player as Microsoft partners with VUDU.
- In 1 year Surface Book 2 never comes.
- In 2 years Surface Laptop 2 never comes, Surface Studio 2 never comes, Surface Pro (6) never comes, then in another year stock runs out of all Surface devices with no explanation.
- In two years EU law makers go after Google and break up Google Play Store requirement for Google Play services, which gives Android market share a short term boost.
- In two years MS announces that they have sold XBOX to Vavle. Hololens' tech is licensed to others and Hololens 2 never comes.
- In 3 years Microsoft licenses Mixed Reality tech to others.
- In 3 years Windows 10 is open sourced and then MS stops updating it within 5 years, spin offs spring up but never gain much market share.
- In 3 years Chrome OS's starts to see apps like Adobe CC, CAD modelling and other productivity apps be released for it.
- In 3 years Apple builds iOS based convertible with mouse support running its own silicon and becomes major contender to Google's efforts.
- In 3 years Google releases Pixel products with proprietary Pixel OS (Fuchsia OS), which includes a low and midrange phone. Then only makes the Pixel Store (renamed Play Store) available to its own OS and stops updating the Android Play Store thus slowly killing Android's market share in favor of it's own Pixel OS market share.
- In 3 years Amazon starts getting high profile apps made for Fire OS as it is seen as the safe haven for Android developers and a wider range of Fire devices including two new phones and two premium tablets.
- In 4 years Amazon makes a bigger push into productivity with major productivity features in Fire OS and a Fire OS convertible.
- In 4 years Microsoft Office is made open source then after 2 years is no longer updated by Microsoft and then spinoffs spring up but never gain much market share.
- In 4 years HTC, Motorola go out of business. LG and Sony stop making phones. Leaving very few other options for consumers.
- In 4 years Samsung develops a high end Tizen Phone and makes it compatible with Amazon's App Store.
- In 4 years Nokia (HMD) buys Jolla and all future Nokia phones run Sailfish OS which are already compatible with Android Apps in Amazon's App Store.
- In 4 years Google releases Pixel OS on its own Pixel Book 3 and moves Pixel Store to only Pixel OS running Pixel devices.
- In 8 years further consumer adoption of Google's consumer products lead to Google making a huge dent in Microsoft's Cloud market share.
- In 8 years Google overtakes Microsoft with only Amazon left in their way for the remaining pieces of the Cloud market.
- In 2027 Microsoft is irrelevant, Google's Pixel OS is majority of the OS market share (which are pixel devices) while Amazon and Samsung take 30% of the market with Apple left with the rest. Unfortunately this is probably gonna happen. Thanks Nutella

Past...nah...

I like this game. In 2 months Microsoft delays Windows on ARM. In 4 months Microsoft still struggles to build apps for their own OS with their own tools, while making the best apps on other OS platforms. In 6 months, Microsoft gives up on Windows on ARM. In 9 months, Microsoft releases another Surface device with outdated ports. In 2 years Microsoft removes all their mobile struggles from Windows 10 desktop. All apps are discontinued and converted back to win32. In 3 years Joe Belfiore is CEO of Microsoft. In 4 years Microsoft is irrelevant. Thanks Joe Belfiore.

In 2 months Microsoft delays Windows on ARM.

It will not be delayed. It will get cancelled. Nobody is taking bets on that OS. No OEM will be guinea pigs for MSFT again 

The time to sell your Windows phones and move on was 6 - 12 months ago.   In March I sold an unlocked Icon, a 1520.3 (international unlocked version with wireless charging) and a dual sim 950XL.  Got enough $ to pay for a 13", 256GB iPad Pro.   I actually got more for the 950XL than I paid for it.   It was obvious to anyone with a brain that it was over when they shut down Nokia and laid everyone off.  I have an android phone from work (S7 Edge), but the more I use it, the less I like it.  In a year I will be able to move to an iPhone for my work phone.  Meanwhile I have a personal 6s plus, the smaller iPad Pro and an iPad mini,along with the big iPad.   In a little over a year I went from total Windows fan, to android with the above work phone, and I bought a Samsung tablet.  Then I realized that everyone in my family was all iOS.  So I checked it out.   Now I am all in on iOS and very happy.  I am also looking a getting a Mac desktop.   I have never liked Windows 10, and see no reason to ever use it.   So yes, there is life after Windows.   Let go of your hate, and come over to the dark side.  I know we all felt smugly superior, because we thought we were different by not following everyone else.  It turns out we were basically stubborn and - in the end - stupid.    The best thing about banging your head against the wall, is when you stop doing it.   I am done banging MY head against the Windows wall, and I couldn't be happier.  

Right, so they have as we already understand say Windows Mobile 10 isn't going to be a thing moving ahead but Windows 10 also being on a mobile device is still going to be a thing? Now is this one of those air filled promises that we heard from Nadella, and heard going on about that would be released at the latter part of 2017 and there would be a few different classes of devices available that MS would produce if the OEMs don't. Well I'll use my 950XL till it dies and looking retrospectively if a new WCOS in a mobile capable device is being released in 2018 or 'in the future', I will reserve my decision hopping onboard because these last several years with Microsoft and it's mobile dedication has been severely lacklustre.

Well, hopefully my L950 will last for a long time. Right now, I don't see any new phone that makes me want to buy at all.

I'll continue to use W10M and my L950XL until it dies or the apps I use are no longer available.

why people didn't come? Microsoft should have ask that on theirselves.  the answer is THEM. Them, who created it didn't bother showing up that they are FULLY commited, CONFIDENT on the platform. why? Look around, how much do you think Microsoft spent marketing the Lumia 950 series.... Were there plans to kill it, days before releasing the 950s? sounds crazy I know. Just saying they were not really commited at all. its clearer now that, the rumored "Surface phone" is their last straw. Heard the podcast, Daniel is right. Everything has to be align for Microsoft about the Surface Phone. Timing I guess is the most crucial. And of course, FEATURES. It should shake the foundation of the current smartphone line. If not, Microsoft has to deal with Android, BIG TIME!

End of an era....

Windows 10 Mobile is dead. Bury it. Consider it mercy.

And grove replacement doesn't work in my country

I, Like many of the users here, are dedicated to Windows mobile. Looks as if that is coming to a close! OK, I and many others have purchased 950/950XL's and would love to move on but why should I buy a new phone? Why not, and not MS, have someone write an Android mobile OS that would work on the 950/950XL so that our investment in the phone can be lengthened? Many others would use this to lengthen their investment using this idea!  Or have current users of 950/950XL's be the beta testers for your new device! I am a windows insider and love the fact that my voice can and does influence what happens to products and software that are destined to hit the market! I also have a Surface and love that! I had a Band 2 and MS closed that, loved Groove, MS closed that... If you are are trying to build a future among users, you are not doing a good job Microsoft! You need to let your dedicated users in on the future and have them shape that future! Your leader is doing a good job in many areas but I do not hear his thoughts on this area other than general comments! Well group and Microsoft, what are your thoughts???

Hmmm the most intriguing part of what he said, was that he was specifically switching to Android 'as an end user'. Why pick a side? And why say that after we know he's personally carried and used Iphones mostly. That part strikes me as a interestinng thing to throw in there.    

Because Microsoft holds pentents on software Android uses. They make money if they convince you to buy an Android phone instead of an iPhone. So for that reason alone I'd buy a (used) iPhone SE.

"Microsoft's Joe Belfiore says Windows 10 Mobile features and hardware are no longer a focus" Err... exactly when WAS it a focus? And dying next? HoloLens (for retail).

They weren't trying hard enough to promote app developement. They didn't make fully realised apps on their own platform. One note lacks features that iOS has, Office apps are better and more like the desktop version on iOs and the their own edge browser app was never separated from their platform making it harder to keep up with features that Chrome or even safari offered. Groove Music is possibly the only first party app that has the best experience on Windows Phone and they killed it's music streaming service which demoted it to just a simple music player. When you don't support your own platform, what thrid party will want to deveolpe for it?  Joe can't place blame on external forces outside of their control, they needed to show these external forces what they could do on their platform and they failed to do so by making their own apps uninspiring let alone not being trusted to continue backend support for it.

could not believe my eyes...Verizon now has 11 basic flip phones on their website.....a couple have built in hot spots. There are alternatives if you just can't do iOS or Droid. There should be a book, "How to Corporate Self Destruct". Microsoft has the genius and talent to create great cool stuff. It's a shame that they are so focused on destroying a mobile presence.  

Well, I cannot buy Joe's whole argument of app gap as the reason behind murder of WM. For starters, they themselves made sub par hardware and buggy software in L950/950 XL, then they started discouraging developers by making better apps on Android & iOS. It seems, they killed it purposefully to make Nadella happy. NADELLA IS THE MAIN REASON WHY WP IS DEAD.

Please Upvote this suggestion https://aka.ms/Qei9be Since it is official now that Windows mobile 10 is dead now, kindly upvote by clicking on the above link so that we can atleast backup our messages, Whatsapp data and retore it is Android/ios. Please open the link in windows mobile 10. In desktop, it doesn't work. 

I invested in many MS's products: Lumia 520, 640 and 930; MS Band 2; WP8.0 then W10M. But after this, I have to be really careful in my next purchase. I will probably switch to Android next year.

Microsoft has a bunch of Android patents that they make money from when you buy your next Android phone, how about buying an iPhone instead!

I'm assuming this is why he went on a long walk-about about a year ago. Oh well, at least he had the balls to come out and say it vs. the CEO who just keeps quite about it.  If memory serves, WP was Belfiore's baby project and he really did seem to care about it.  If he was told this back then, I really feel sorry for the dude.  Oh MS.  Good at making futuristic videos about technology, but severly lacking what it takes to make it real.  They're just like an R&D hub of ideas to the other players.

I am still using my Lumia 950XL until now, because the camera is incredible.. :-)

I went and got the iPhone 8s yesterday. I also looked at the Note 8, but at the end, I chose reliability over customization.  It really doesn’t matter anyway, because I dislike both OS. I do have all MS apps though and truth be told, some of them work way better on iOS than they did on Win10M. If Microsoft should ever bring the “makes smartphones obsolete” device, I’ll happily come back, but not right away. They will first have to prove that they mean it for at least a year or two.   Btw: not having a WC app on iOS sucks big time!!!

Agreed, TRUST is a big deal now with Microsoft. I would not even look at a brand new device they release, till version 2.0 comes out and it's confirmed with support.

Sorry Joe, if im going to iOS or android. Microsoft services will most likely not be my first consideration. Or second...

Little fact that Microsoft forgets

Good bye..... Blue sky..... :(

All in all it's just, another brick in the wall. 

So what's next, kill off Cortana as well? Kill Windows 10 because your marketing team sucks? Kill Surface because your marketing team sucks? I have been a hardcore Microsoft Fan for many years and it really worries me their pulling the plug on things they simply abandon. Yeah the writing has been on the wall for a long time, but the lack of trying was pretty much negligence!

Most people who use Windows smart phones knew this was the case since we saw no new smart phones coming from Microsoft itself. Now that we khow MS CEO Nadella does not beleave the smart phones market needs more that 2 types of smart phones in it which is reduculous. There will be No "Surface" Smart Phones coming from Microsoft, but if the internet leaked Microsoft Patents for Dual screen "Mini Tablets" are a indication of what Microsoft is going to bring to the Market place then we may see a Microsoft made "Dual screen Mini" Tablet running the new up and coming "Windows 10 on ARM" CPU's Software with a cell phone in it's case. The Apps will come from the standard Windows 10 PC "Microsoft store" . It will run Win 32- X86  Desktop PC  programs, UWP Apps, current non UWP Windows 10 store Apps and Win 32 Centennial Programs. I would buy this Mini Tablet if it does these things. Microsft is not expecting this device to be their smart just a Tablet Hybrid that has a cell phone for those who want that capability.It will be sold with or witout a cell phone in it's case  

Now I'm looking forward to Jason's say on this. 😁

And then Mr. Joe finally spoke! .....and told us what we already knew!!!
Tell us something we don't know such as plans for the project Andromeda...

 Not surprising really but I'm sorry to hear this. IMHO Windows Mobile is  so much better than iOS.

Windows phone failed because MS failed to produce a bug free OS. The core apps (browser, settings, fb etc) are so buggy that it's intolerable. They cannot attract developers or customers in such a platform. Nadela didn't have any other options. Everyone who uses/used a windows phone knows that this is true

Microsoft can't even provide a bug free desktop OS. Industry employs hundreds of thousands of it people just to prop up their enterpise systems. Who's going to continue to buy their OS? Bill

Let's see what the die hard fans have to say now? It's like someone kicked their little kitty. Turn out the lights, the party is over!

I cannot fail to wonder if MS even listens to what it says! You could not bring in developers becuase of low usage base. yet. rather than 'writing-off' 7 billion dollars in one go, it did not contemplate subsidising phones to increase user base. Rather it kept on killing the low-end phones only providing users with 'hopes' of developing an industry defining flagships, atest being the surface phone. Now if and when it launches the surface phone, how on earth does it hope to be successful with it? The users won't be there again, developers wont write apps again. So it will fail again! keep it simple MS. stop harping about mobility and just say we are a PC OS, Enterprise Cloud Company and that is all that we will be doing.

Dude, i agree on all things except for the line MICROSOFT gave hope of something special hardware like a Surface Phone

All everyone needs to do is pull out of the Insider program on W10. Vote your disappointment that way!!! Why should any of us who have bug tested and helped MS for years bother anymore? F**k 'em!!!!

Let's go out smiling.

Ufff...MS just doesn't need to WORK on anything at all! Just shut down the damned company and let us be! To hell with this company, its enterprise solutions and the so-called the "empathy" banner that they so ride on!

Honestly, I don't need a Smartphone, I need an ultraportable Cellular Computer that I can sometimes use for phone calls, as those are literally less than 1% of my actual phone usage. So, in that regard Windows 10 Mobile isn't that big a deal to me. Also means that Android and iPhone aren't going to do **** for me either, other then frustrate the heck out of me with their terrible UIs.

Sad indeed, but no developer cared and therefore no user cared. There was only a handful of us who loved it. One can only wonder if things had gone differently if MS had really paid developers to make apps for it. Sure, they helped some but I'm talking about paying the top 100 apps on Android and ios to develop on par apps, and promise to continue to pay them for 5 years or so. It would have been expensive but might have given it a chance of success. In the end I think they were too proud to do so.

They are bringing people to Android and iOS, and soon people will use Google and Apple services/cloud ecc.. Apps on the Microsoft Store (even on PC) will no longer make sense, and, tomorrow, when everything will be "Mobile" you'll be cut off from the games (and many will not even know about Microsoft services). Those who use Android (most of all) on Pc use Chrome, not Edge! They're using gmail, not outlook, drive or dropbox, not onedrive. You have to convince people to use Windows! This was the time to keep insisting on Windows on smartphones. It's been a shame for two years, they didn't produce a phone. Nadella is a mediocre CEO, does not have a vision

I think you are right about this. This decision will hurt Microsoft in the long run. Mobile is the future of may new ways of working.

Still under the WIndows 10 store, some of the huge apps are not avabile. Nor will they ever be. Even top PC games wont come to the store, you wll have to go to Steam or retail. It's Microsoft screwing their seleves no one else... They lost a lot of users with this Windows Phone thing..

Can we for a second just accept that Windows Phone was an abomination? I was extremely disapointed when they announced Windows Phone 7, instead of the long awaited Windows Mobile 7, which was going to bring a Windows 7 like experience to Windows Mobile, with a more powerful API and more correspondence between the Windows API and Windows Mobile API. But instead, we got a Zune Phone with no backwards compatibility what so ever and which just was able to run webapps made in Silverlight or Javascript. The idea was to just Rip-off the iPhone and Android in order to make a quick buck. Microsoft did had a mobile agenda way before these 2, but instead of just adapting the points that made this 2 platforms succesful, they went for a complete rip off of their ecosystem. And in the end Android became what Windows Mobile strived for; a user friendly yet powerful customizable platform. It became the windows of mobile operating systems.

In no way would have been another desktop on the mobile (Windows Mobile 7) be a success. The Metro UI was genius. The very fact that its design language was (mostly) copied by Apple and Google proves that.THAT surely wasn't the reason for the failure of Windows Phone.

It might not be a success, but usage share actually dropped because of the change. If you want a Zune Metro UI interface that is fine, but they didn't just renewed the UI, they changed the complete platform, and made it so that you could just make web apps for it. In fact, many of these errors were "corrected" in Windows Phone 8, but it was too late already.

You also could not just "make web apps" for Windows Mobile before Windows Phone 7. Windows Mobile API (Windows CE) was a mess. It had the same function names as the traditional Win32 API but the function worked mostly completly different or not at all or with different arguments or any combination of those fails. You are corrent though that with Windows Phone 8.1 one could finally write IE backed HTML/JS apps that were first class citizens in the OS.

To me WP was cool until 8.0, then it became and Android wannabe, failing.
Now, MS should focus on services and software where can prevale: OneDrive, Skype, Xbox, Office, Visual Studio and make Windows 10 a real multi-devices OS.

I think MS should release badass foldable Continuum enabled high end slick Surface device running Android and filled exclusively with MS software, with a Windows wallpaper and launcher that has best in class synergy with Windows desktop and custom chip, BUT WITH ABSOLUTE EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP with Google like noone else to receive updates as fast as Pixel phones and not like other OEMS like Samsung, OnePlus, Essential, Xiaomi etc. that are close to Pixel's stock android but still sh*t. maybe even exclusive partnership with Amazon's services like Alexa and others. This will destroy Apple to ashes in no time. Let's be honest - Windows is a ticking bomb as a platform and Satya knows it. Win32 is a dinosaur, no matter how Andromedish and modular they are going to make it. It's a legacy software with no future. Make this BEAST device and stress on Cloud, AI, MR, Quantum benefits. Use by default Google Maps, Play, Translate, Amazon's Alexa, Spotify as a native player and other partnership integrations. Satya is all about partnering now and if someone have read his book, knows exactly what I am talking about

And how do they earn money? They abandon Windows Mobile because they can't earn money and you are proposing them to go into something that doesn't have even remote chances of that (Windows Mobile at least had theoretical chances).

That's because your fanboyism is blinding you from seeing further than your nose ;) no offense

No it is not offense, but it is rude you could write something if you had any answer at all.

I am a rude person :)

I honestly think there is more to MS decision to turn off WM10 life support, I suspect they believe their emerging technologies (AR devices) will deminish the relevance of mobile phones in their present form.

Reducing the problem to lack of apps it's so ridiculous.

I'm with you....but Microsoft is bringing people to use Android and iOS, and soon people will use Google and Apple services (just like twenty years ago when only Windows existed and Microsoft offered services. They were not happy that others used Firefox, for example). Apps on the Microsoft Store will no longer make sense, and tomorrow, when everything will be "Mobile", you'll be cut off from the games. Many will not even know about Microsoft services. For me app-gap is mainly in the head of the people - like with the iphone - I have more than 100 apps and I always found everything I needed, even better than on other operating systems.
Those who use Android, on Pc use Chrome! Most of all will not use Bing, onedrive, or install arrow. They'll use gmail not outlook! This was the time to keep insisting on Windows on smartphones. It's been a shame for two years, they didn't produce a phone. Nadella is a mediocre CEO, does not have a vision. P.S. Sorry for my english, it's not my language. P.P.S. I own Surface Pro 3, Xbox One S and Lumia 950 XL, I use every day Microsoft services (Skype, Office ecc...). In the past I used Surface Rt, Surface 2, Lumia 925, Lumia 930. Microsof have not been corrected with so many of us.

I guess a T-shirt with the words "hit me" at the center of Cortana logo will sell like crazy. :)

it's all so sad :-(   

Honestly I don't care about Windows Phone. I use Android and it's great. I visit Windows sites for desktop news. 

I think Microsoft should release an Android phone. They already have a very robust ecosystem of apps that includes a launcher, a lockscreen, an assistant, calendar and e-mail a now even a browser with edge.

And add Live Tiles to it...

Did no one ask him about Andromeda + hardware for it????

I made the decision myself months ago that I will be replacing my close family's 10 WP devices with Samsung Galaxies this Xmas...I am never investing in any MSFT hardware ever again...I have been burned too many times (Zune HD, Band, Zune/Groove Pass, Surface RT, etc.)...while extremely innovative, MSFT have proven ad nauseum that it has no stomach for the personal consumer market...I hope they license Live Tiles to Android because that was the most significant thing that kept me holding on to WP...after 15+ years of WM/WP, I leave the platform frustrated by MSFT...

So no Surface Phone and no Andromeda OS? 

5G hololens will do. End of "phone/tablet" form is near anyway. They lost in phone race, hope they wont in wearables one. Future is wireless.

After all Microsoft has done and you're still looking to back a new technology from them?  You are a glutton for punishment.

Because some of its specs are still better than some 999+$£€ new flagships. And because I like W10, what else.

Hey, I like Windows 10 Mobile and my Lumia 950 as well. However, I also really love my new Garmin Vivoactive 3 and being able to consistently connect to my cars bluetooth setup. Because of that, I had to move on and that is just the way it is. Now I just have to figure out out to make incoming text messages alert and speak over bluetooth like the 950 does.

I actually like what Microsoft is doing on Android.  But I'll never use it for a few reasons.  One is that Microsoft does not support the SD card on Android, for any of their apps.  So you need a high end device to make it worth your while.  The other is that the apps are bigger than Google's own apps for Android.  And Google has tied up OEM phones so that anyone with a device that can still turn on can get a really, really, good experience, even if they're running KitKat. Microsoft should partner with OEM to deliver a mid tier device with all of their services installed.  Like a Moto G or something I can pick up for $150 with their stuff installed out of the box.  Instead, they want to convince Samsung Galaxy 8 users to switch over to their services.  This goes against the market they cultivated with Windows Phone.  Should have seen the writing on the wall, as Windows 10 Mobile was becoming all about high end devices that could work with the latest updates.  Now, those phones will be left out in the cold as well, put into maintenance mode.  Those phones COULD get the latest Facebook, Messenger with video calling and audio calling, etc but those features will never make it there.  My condolences to anyone that spent $200 or more on a Windows 10 Mobile device expecting the same features from third party apps that are the norm on $20 Android devices. Microsoft may enjoy a small dedicated market in Android with high end devices.  I hope that they do.  But it is just sad to know that a platform that was able to accomplish the same with lighter specs on devices that are actually affordable will never fully be realized.   Best bet for Microsoft is to become an Android OEM and tie down their own devices with their own services that cannot be uninstalled and would require root.  Best of Microsoft and Google on a low end 16 GB device.  You can't uninstall any of it without root.  This would force a lot of people to use their services, just ilke it forces a lot of people to use Google's services.  I would say a 8 GB device but we all know that what Microsoft is doing would not leave any space for apps to be installed on a 8 GB device; then again if Microsoft were the OEM you would probably be able to install all of your apps on the SD card.

MSFT becoming an Android OEM is the probable best bet...MSFT has several major patents on Android that it receives royalties of up to $20 for each Android device sold...it is estimated that MSFT makes hundreds of millions in annual profits from these royalties and enabled its subsidy of the money losing Windows Phones...

That is the most obvious solution at this point.  I just do not see where anyone in their right mind on Android would use their services to their own detriment when their workflow is all Google services, regardless of how good the software Microsoft is putting out.  Google is more than competent when it comes to software and it is a matter of taste at this point. Microsoft has an opportunity to do what Samsung really wants to do, but can't do, because (Samsung) is not great at software.  I'd wager that Microsoft could make a better Android than Samsung if they really wanted to.

I agree and perhaps MSFT can add Live Tiles to Android...my most favorite feature of WP.

That would be interesting.  Those third party launchers that are supposed to emulate Windows Phone suck.  

Agreed on the launchers.  That's the main reason why I have not switched to Android yet.  That and Groove music but...

Microsoft - "We are no longer concentrating on our own mobile platform with software or hardware".  Windows Central - "Keep coming to our site to read about Microsofts upcoming mobile device". Only on WC. Haha. 

Don't leave this on the middle of the road. People and developers are not interested because of most of features are not available or missing, after two ✌ years of development. OS also full of bug 🐛. I think Microsoft rethink they're decision. I'm also fan of windows 10 mobile. Please don't leave the development. I'm still using my Lumia 950 xl my main phone.

Really cute seeing this trending on Twitter like "Omg, Microsoft puts the nail in the coffin! They even paid devs to write apps!!!" You don't say we've known this for over a year lol  

This is why as a developer, I can't look at their AR offerings with any enthusiasm. I just know they'll ditch it in a few years so what's the point getting on board and wasting my time? Omly last year they were urging developers to update their apps to work with continuum and that went absolutely nowhere. WM 6 to Windows Phone 7,8,8.1, 10 went through so many SDK/platform reboots that funnily enough developers got tired of rewriting all the apps. W10 IoT seems to have been forgotten too. Project Spark... ditched. Integration with Here Maps.. ditched.. so and and so on. Bot Framework will be next.

I'll switch back to my old SonyEriccson before using Android or iOS. Both of them are terrible. You have to pay a lot of money to get a usable phone...

Sad

sad. worried about Windows and Surface now.  

They would not have 3 or 4 surface events this year if Surface was in trouble. As for Windows it will always exist if only in Azure. However, What should be clear is a clear focus on Enterprise. Consumers will flock to well build expensive great enterprise devices and the partners can build for consumers. Example is a surface phone/mini/pocket would be very enterprise focused and overkill. Hp can swoop in for the lower enterprise sector and Dell for consumers (just an example). As for HP loyalty. They fully ditched ms for webOs once and they are very familiar with how volatile that market is so I bet they sympathies with MS I also bet they were in on the direction and privey to the next step (if there is one) hence the 2019 from both companies.

After this, Microsoft is on its way to demise. No more trust is coming from anyone. Well, that is it for me. And for MS as well. I just wish they ended and go bankrupt!

Why even bother to using Microsoft apps on iOS or Android? Tomorrow, they might give up on other mobile apps because they have no loyalty toward customers, even though they snobbishly ask for customer's loyalty. Shame on Microsoft!

I think we are being trolled by semantics.  What if MS released a new form factor, foldable “Surface Pocket” Windows Core OS on ARM that was able to run Android apps?

"Microsoft's Joe Belfiore says Windows 10 Mobile features and hardware are no longer a focus" And nobody talks about resignations ??
Strange

Also, for years, MacOS was barely 10% of the desktop market but Apple never let their base customers down. So it does not matter how low WinMo share of the market is. Loyalty is very hard to earn! So Microsoft, you have lost me...this time for good; including my customer, my friends, my family.

Apple is a Nich product world wide. Ms should position itself similarly in mobile. This way combined with Desktop even with market loss it has a significant portion of the pie. To believe android is the future is foolish, It can not render Pixar movies, Nor control enterprise servers, Mobile is the consumer personal computing future and right now that is phone. But android in its current state doesn't scale to tablet well so it will have a hard time against a one OS strategy. Apple has the stronger plan with multiple OS but how long will developers stick on depends on market share. NO they wont give up and I will give them that.

I completely agree with your assessment. I think that Microsoft hasn't found a true CEO who can act as a great consumer evangelist. They are still sail on the name tag associated with Windows and Office on PC. It takes a lot to get a CEO like Tim Cook to get on the stage and market features on iPhone X that already existed on Samsung phones for years. But at that real moment, he was catering to his core loyal Apple customers. Microsoft hasn't found a CEO to do the same since Bill Gates left. 

Sold out! (Confirmation)

Its old news that new features and new hardware on W10M is no longer a focus, its communicated months ago. I dont have Twitter but the most important question we should ask him: IS there any news about Andromeda or Cshell or Windows Core OS thats running on phone enabled portable devices? Can someone post this to Twitter? Its pretty simple, they want one OS Win10 on all devices supporting apps and normal executables. MS will keep their focus on Mobile devices but not with W10M but with one Win10 for all devices. They will never stop with mobile devices because they will never kill their own OS Win10 and more and more people mainly use phones and tablets. 

I want Belfiore Fired before he has the opportunity to kill off something else that consumers like.....well a few consumers

I don't think he's pulling the strings.

They should've announced this months ago. It's good that they did though. When my sister gets a new phone I'll take her old Android, very excited for that. The only reason to keep my Lumia is for the camera and video, which are still pretty good.

Apple's iMessage implementation is their cashcow keeping users locked to the platform. Android comes in second for those fed up with iOS, but really there is no room for a third spot as we all know. I have no doubts Apple wouldn't be where it is today without iMessage.. why can't we find a way to bring that pillar down?

Just stop adding new bugs!
Thanks

Without mobile, Microsoft is dead. I hate to say it but people on iOS/Android don't care about Microsoft apps or services, or at least the majority don't. Edge will drown on those platforms because other browsers are more popular and certainly better than Edge. What I don't understand is all the support by consumers to create a monopoly in the mobile industry, and especially one controlled by Google. I'll continue to use my Windows Phone until it no longer works. Sadly I'm not confident in Microsoft's claim that they have a mobile device in the works for the future, or at least one that will bring enough people back to Microsoft. If they did, they sure as hell wouldn't be driving/pushing their customers away. I'm hoping that I'll have a Windows powered device to replace my phone in the near future, otherwise I'll have to resort to a basic phone.

Wow, I'm so glad I switched to an S8 this weekend instead of paying $500 for the Elite X3. Microsoft had such a great thing going, and then they stopped trying after they bought Nokia's hardware division. All they had to do was release slightly more powerful phones each year until they had that game changing device they're supposedly working on. Oh well, at least I was forced to switch at the time when MS is bringing a lot of services to Android. Hopefully myTube comes to Android. I hate the stock YouTube app.

Belfiore tried to justify very hard to justify their departure. But he did not mention the real reason. Satye hated it. Surface is next. He doesn't appreciate consumer's loyalty. He is a software guy. He loves to make apps. He doesn't understand what is to keep fighting. Veo sad Eelfiore

I guess at this point I'm sticking with my WP for the same reason I'm driving my car.  It works, and it's paid for.  

It just seems to go from bad to worse. This is for me especially sad and disturbing. Several years ago I decided to stack my career on Microsoft and Windows. I became a Windows developer. I missed the first wave of Windows Mobile some years ago. But when Windows Phone 7 came out I was all in. I had hoped to get into WP development, but struggled with it. Then sort of a comedy of errors occurred, only no one was laughing. I was one of the many who lost his job in the Great Recession. That period of unemployment lasted much longer than I anticipated. I had previously joined Microsoft's mobile incentive to develop for Windows Phone, but being unemployed meant that getting a new job was more important. Keeping food on the table and a roof over my family's head was top priority. When a job finally came out it was hellaciously far away with a very long commute on a train with no WiFi. My laptop, a Sony VAIO, although only a couple of years old wouldn't support Windows 10 when it came out, thanks to Sony/VAIO turning its back on that model of laptop (Sony, you've permanently lost a customer). So, I couldn't develop for Windows Mobile nor even Windows 10, even if I could have had access to the Internet to pull down NuGet packages or GitHub code. I really saw that mobile was where it was at. I also find UWP to be quite compelling. I finally got my first Windows 10 app into the Store for both desktop and phone. But Belfiore's comments/tweets makes me wonder if I've just wasted my time. And more fundamentally, chosen the wrong path for a technology to hitch my wagon to?  

Does this mean that MS is dropping the Andromeda OS???  It has been advertised to bring desktop capabilities to mobile (W10 on ARM), and while it won't be called Windows "mobile", that is simply semantics.  I have no plans to change to less capable iOS or G**gle crap.

The circumstances were difficult, but Microsoft has only themselves to blame. Here in Europe the Lumia 5/6-series were quite a success in the budget segment and the 820 (the one with the big camera) was not a top seller, but you could spot it regularly. The few phones after that lacked the standout design with the bright colors and had boring specs. The Lumia 950 was bland and after that Microsoft didn't even try. Add to that that Windows 10 was in quite a few respects a step back compared to WP8 and failure was a given. There are even some things that Microsoft still has to fix: the crappy Microsoft Store and its mysterious and fickle ways of downloading files and the anemic language support of Cortana.

Now I know how Palm users felt. 

For the record, I think I was the last human town a Palm. Lightning does strike twice.

Microsoft is dreaming. Very few will bigger with their services on iOS or Android. I used and liked the on Windows Mobile but after an initial attempt, moved to Google services. Being baked on matters. There is no mobile strategy without a platform. There are apps like OneNote, but no overarching set of services.

Does this really require an explanation? I left the platform years ago but kinda feel sorry for the people who stuck it out and had their emotions played with for all this time.

I purchased a Lumia 950 believing words of Microsoft that they are developing the phone. Widows phone had about 10 %market share three years ago. Microsoft alone is to be blamed for downfall of their market share. It has no consistent and aggressive marketing policy. Their existing market share dwindled as they failed to introduce new phones.
After making one step forward, they put three steps backward.
Which app developer will invest money in windows mobile when Microsoft itself was not confident about their project.
It is true that Microsoft had invested much money for this software but they failed because they packed consistent policy. They minds were pulled in different directions
It will be very just on part of Microsoft if they provide necessary tools to existing customers to install android in their phones. I had purchased this Lumia 950 for huge price. But has no use now.
I feel cheated by Microsoft.

I'm SHOCKED, SHOCKED - that it had been their focus until yesterday!

I wonder what this will do to non-mobile issues - things like home automation, which are often app or phone based. Will windows loose its edge in this sector as well? And if that is the case are we simply moving towards slow irrelevance at worse or minimized utility at best....

It’s pretty obvious that Microsoft’s energies are in the cloud, windows desktop/server, virtualisation and office these days. They want to be the platform that everything is built on. Heck they even went to the trouble of integrating Linux with Windows!   Why? IMO Microsoft’s internal culture has never lent itself as a consumer product company, although there have been attempts to pivot in this direction. Nadella is a product of this (pardon the pun) and I don’t get the intuition that he get’s the consumer space, and simply manages by the numbers.   Imagine if Apple took Michael Dell’s advice to shut down in the late 90s? The Mac and OSX are foundations for future products, Microsoft doesn’t entirely share that view from a consumer device perspective - they simply want to be enablers for everyone else - ensuring it’s own longevity in an IBM manner.   It feels like every time someone in MS comes up with a cool consumer product in shippable or near shippable form (think Courier, Windows mobile etc) - marketing just doesn’t follow suit and ends up floundering in the marketplace - or dies and doesn’t even see the light of day. God knows how Xbox has avoided that fate.   Xbox is a strange outlier, hololens looks cool at the moment but I’m sure a leapfrog moment from Apple, Google or someone else is just around the corner which will make hololens and its narrow field of view look yesteryear - and I’m sure someone will come up with an AR/VR launcher that makes Kipman’s ‘Cliffhouse’ look as stupid as Microsoft bob. Hololens looked and still looks great - but I feel that Microsoft are treating it as a pet project and are being very risk averse… using the underlying technologies as a base/set of frameworks for other OEMs to showcase their wares - however google could do the exact same thing and no one will give a damn about windows.   I’m not a hater - I’m an old time Microsoft user, been in the tech game for years (since the amiga/atari/16-bit days) and while I’m not wedded to one particular technology company, Microsoft is one that never fails to innovate early, then shoot itself in the foot - it’s frustrating as someone who has had windows phones/w10m through all iterations, windows mobiles (from the very first Orange SPV/HTC Canary), and a bunch of surfaces.   They also take a very USA centric view - for example at it’s peak, Windows phone was at 10%+ in EU5, and Nokia (as a brand) was a key driver of this. Microsoft should have owned the Nokia brand and used it to further itself (brand as in an equal to xbox), but they never took that opportunity because in the USA Nokia was never a major player.   Anyhow, over the years I remember no one wanted to touch apple - but as the geeks grew up, became IT managers and generally involved in tech, they brought along the products they personally used - hence why you see many youngish companies, startup like dev teams etc all embrace Macs. UWP will end up dieing too - the primary use case was mobile with delivery through an App Store. The catalyst for this type of packaging and delivery were mobile phones and now Microsoft is out of that business.   Sometimes you should put your trust in companies who are consistent in their product approach. If you want a phone, get an android or iPhone - decide what you prefer and take it from there - they’re in it for the long haul. Microsoft can’t be trusted. Too many people have been burned by them over the years. Imagine how pissed you would be if you worked tirelessly at HP on the Elite X3 and Microsoft dumped you! Imagine if you worked at BSkyB, egged on by Microsoft to use Silverlight as your web player only to be screwed over once you launched! Microsoft creates a lot of ill will. I don’t know why no one in that organisation can see the obvious.   Also - mr belfiore I’m sure was one of those guys whose job it was to evangelise and get windows mobile to the masses. How does someone like that get to keep their job?! He was always one of the faces of windows phone, and he screwed up, went on a sabbatical only to come back and conclude that the towel must be thrown in. Keeping old guard guys like him in a job at MS are what kills it.  

BRAVO!! Completely agree in pretty much everything you said. Microsoft has screwed over fans more times than probably all other top tech companies combined. They are extremely lucky they have the foothold they do in enterprise and won't risk trying these things with them like they have with consumer products. I too have never seen Microsoft as a consumer facing company and always saw any consumer product that was in talks or put to market as something you're taking a gamble on buying into as a consumer. I also think like some of the rumors have suggested that the Surface line doesn't have much of a future especially if this October hardware event proves to be nothing with no SB2 or SP5.

You are spot on and special thanks for the excellent observation on the very incompetent Belfiore. I been burned by MSFT abandoning hardware (Zune HD, Band, Surface RT, WM/WP, etc.) and will never buy a MSFT made hardware product ever again. MSFT is not interested in the personal consumer market. This is very clear. I am replacing all 10 of my close family's WP with Samsung Galaxy phones by Thanksgiving/Xmas this year...

You're right. I can't do droid or iOS, but Verizon has 11 flip phones on its website...I can't wait. I love W10M enough that I had two Windows phones through two different companies, just so I could have good service.

blackberry 10 had native android runtime... why microsoft couldn't do it??why they killed project astoria so fast??? app situation could have been better and atract more useres to the platform. of course ....blackberry is also dead but... lumia phones had better market share. why they abadon everything??

Who cares anymore. After all of the previous dropped hardware, I sure would not invest in anything else that Microsoft sells. I currently own a 950 XL and previously several win 8 and win 7 phones. Fool me once, Shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me.

I'll still keep rockin my 950XL.

The guys at cupertino will have a bright future with all the millions new customers coming from the Microsoft ecosystem to Apple 

I don't understand this reasoning. You either should said surface phone or any other phone like device will never happen and then w10 on the phone is really dead and everybody should move on. Or whatever form of windows will be on that device, from user's perspective, it will be simply a next win 10 mobile version however you call it. Application platform will be UWP - the same as on current win 10 mobile and thats what counts. In that case it makes sense to wait.

Shame, I have been with WP since Symbian on the Nokia N8. 

RIP RIP RIP. Let's stop crying for the deceased and move on.

When I showed this article to my Lumia friend who has been stopped to suggest me to buy Lumia phone again. I felt happy to see his pity face. Because I already have an Lumia which has been outdated after Creators Update and decided to buy an Android mobile. -------
I hope w10m will be a stable and flawless in future years. Good Luck MS/w10m

Does anyone think that Microsoft ever bother to read forums like this one? They don't seem to care. Satya's heart is completely in the clouds. Zune 1, 2 and HD, Samsung windows phone, Windows CE, MS Band, and soon, Surface line of products, to name a few! Heads need to roll at Microsoft!!!

It seems the harder we complain about MIcrosoft's abandonment of Windows Phone, the more the company sends out spin masters to convince us that we are wrong. Microsoft should realize that the comments here in support of Windows Phone represent the opinions of many more people than those who actually blog. The company should read and reflect on the passion here for its products and admit that they have made a blunder. People who actually love the Windows mobile ecosystem should get real vocal - FB, Twitter, etc and let the world know that we are witnessing not only a stupid corporate mistake but potentially other issues which could place the matter in front of a court of law. If they knew that they were going to kill the platform, why bother to promote new devices such as the Elite 3 & Idol 4S? I bet HP, Alcatel and T-Mobile are ticked off. The long and slow wind down smells of a conspiracy to defraud and promises made to support Windows on mobile as people were continuing to buy into their ecosystem look like a breach of trust. At first I laughed when someone joked about asking them for a refund for the money we've spent on Windows phones. But, I own a VW diesel and recently received a check for over 5 thousand bucks from VW in that legal case involving emissions. No, I'm not advocating that we do that. But I do hope that everyone who loves Windows Phone (whatever version) will be proactive and show support for the platform. A small vocal minority can effect changes, even to a major corporation. Obviously, MIcrosoft's head is in the cloud, not around real people who like their stuff. Windows Phone didn't fail. Microsoft failed to market it. After seeing wireless vendor's failure to promote any Windows phone, MIcrosoft should have focused on selling the phones primarily throught their stores. I would buy the $199 Idol 4S today, if I had any belief that Microsoft was committed to mobile. Nadella and other senior leadership should take the time to read what people are saying on this and similiar blogs. It's not ALL about money. Yes, a company has to turn a profit. It didn't give phones enough time. Finally, the hardware is catching up with Microsoft's ahead of its time software. Promises made by the company not withstanding, just think of all of the possibilities that have been lost because they don't realize that line item profits shouldn't short circuit great ideas. I believe that an outpouring of support for the ecosystem might convince an otherwise great and inventive company that changed the world to remember the folks who put it there.

Windows Phone has been dead-man-walking since Nadella started...his daily driver then was an iPhone and he recently switched to Android. For several m