Tech terminology check: Is it Windows Phone or Windows phone?

By Jason Ward
last updated

Some people write Windows Phone (capitalized) while others write Windows phone. Some say Windows Mobile, and others say Windows 10 Mobile. What gives?

Microsoft's Windows-on-phone strategy has undergone so many transitions during the years the lingo surrounding the subject has become a tangled web of names that can make effective verbal or written communication about the subject a challenge.

Granted, in the context of certain dialogue, the specificity of the terms may not matter. But I have been in more than one conversation in article comments, on social media, or have seen in the body of some articles across the web where the terms referring to a particular iteration of Microsoft's Windows-on-phone vision have been applied incorrectly.

Is it a big deal? Most of the time, no. But words are designed to convey an idea, concept or state, so the wrong words can convey the wrong message.

Consequently, two people may be "talking" about two entirely different things, fully convinced they're discussing the same topic. With rising tempers and escalating frustration they may think, "Why doesn't this dude get what I'm saying?"

Yeah, we've all been there (or at least witnessed it).

Thus, appropriately-applied terms are essential to effective communication. In that light, I come as your humble mediator in this truly light-hearted piece, with the simple goal of hopefully leading us to common ground regarding the rarely-addressed proverbial elephant in the room.

"Windows phone terminology 101" is now in session.

Purpose of this course

We will be revisiting some the terminology we've used over the years when talking about our favorite mobile platform, with the goal of eliminating any confusion when you see those terms in use or use them yourself. By the end of this session, we hope to do away with those pesky, embarrassing and sometimes infuriating moments of confusion or conflict that may arise when someone incorrectly uses one of the myriad terms Microsoft has equipped us with to keep up with its ever-morphing Windows-on-phone vision.

By the end of this course you will have mastered "geek talk."

By the end of this crash course iPhone fans, Android phone fans and of course the ever-faithful Windows phone fan will know when to use "Windows Phone" rather than "Windows phone," or "Windows Mobile" rather than "Windows 10 Mobile." You'll have a grasp of what the phrase Windows on phone means and will also understand why all of these terms, including the exciting Windows on ARM (in relation to phones), are all Windows on phone.

You'll have such a proficient grasp of geek talk that you'll be the coolest geek among, well, geeks (no offense). Well, let's take it to school!

Roll call and defining terms

Microsoft fans, Windows phone fans, iPhone and Android phone users this is for you. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Devices Chief Panos Panay, Windows Chief Terry Myerson, Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela and all you Microsofties out there, I hope you're here too. Your support after this session is essential to keeping us on track.

Let's start with defining terms and establishing context.

Pocket PC

"Pocket PC" is a name we heard a lot in the past. But what was it, and why are we beginning to hear those words again in 2017? Well, Pocket PC was the name of Microsoft's Windows CE-based OS that ran on phones from 2000 to 2003. It was a paired-down version of the Windows OS for a pocketable device. Thus, Pocket PC. Simple, right?

The proper name Pocket PC identifies an OS, and the term pocket PC is a device category.

Pocket PC as an OS is dead. It transitioned to the next OS iteration of Microsoft's Windows on phone. So, Pocket PC in this context is a proper name (as in a proper noun) referring to a particular mobile OS.

Now you may hear the term pocket PC thrown around as we speculate about what's coming next for Microsoft. In that context, we are not talking about an OS version but a category of device. Simply put, pocket (lower case "p") PC in this context is not the proper name of an OS but a descriptive term for a category.

The OS Pocket PC is dead. The category pocket PC is not. Got it? Alright, let's move on.

Windows Mobile

See more

Like its predecessor Pocket PC, the Windows Mobile OS was based on Windows CE (and was more a name change than an OS shift). Windows Mobile had its run from 2003 to 2010, and with over 40 percent market share at its peak, though not a consumer success, it was the most successful OS version of Microsoft's Windows-on-phone vision. Unfortunately, this OS was unceremoniously axed by Microsoft in 2010 after Apple's iPhone and Android phones had aggressively hacked away most of its market share, beginning in 2007. Fans of the platform were not happy, here's why.

Windows Mobile was devastated by the competition and put to pasture by Microsoft.

Microsoft was in a frenzy to get something in the hands of consumers to save the sinking ship that was its mobile platform. In that rush, the investments that may have enabled the legacy investments by developers to endure into the next iteration of Microsoft's Windows-on-phone vision were sacrificed. It would have taken too long to ensure backward compatibility for Windows Mobile apps on the next Windows-on-phone OS. Senior Product Manager for Microsoft's Mobile Developer Experience Larry Lieberman explained:

"We do recognize that there are a lot of folks who have been writing apps for Windows Mobile for some time … If we'd had more time and resources, we may have been able to do something in terms of backward compatibility."

Thus, all of those nifty apps users had invested in on their Windows Mobile phones were left in the past, as were the investments of the developers that made them. The Windows CE-based Windows Mobile is dead. It was replaced with Windows Phone.

Windows Phone

This Windows Phone OS designation is where things begin to get confusing for conversation purposes. But allow me to offer some clarity. Windows Phone with an upper case "P," like Pocket PC before it, is the proper name of an OS version. It was the touch-friendly, Live Tile-equipped, buttery-smooth consumer iteration of Microsoft's Windows-on-phone vision.

The unique UI and app services that were baked right into the OS were departures from the previous iterations of that vision. It was also a stark contrast to the pages of static icons and app-focused nature of the iPhone and many Android phones. Like all of the mobile Windows OSes before it, Windows Phone made the mobile devices it ran on Windows phones, with a lower case "p." Get it?

Windows Phone is the proper name of an OS, and Windows phone is a device category.

In a nutshell, a Windows phone is a category of mobile devices that runs Windows, whereas Windows Phone is a particular OS version of Microsoft's Windows-on-phone vision. So, Windows Phone is dead. (As in, it's no longer under active development by Microsoft). Window phone is not.

Windows on phone remains, as development shifted from Windows Phone to the unified Windows core across all devices including Windows 10 Mobile.

Windows 10 Mobile

Windows 10 Mobile is the current iteration of Microsoft's Windows on phone vision. As part of the realization of Microsoft's decades-long trek to a single core, OneCore, Windows 10 Mobile is the mobile version of Windows 10. Unlike previous versions, it shares a common core with Windows 10 and is in essence Windows.

Windows Mobile is dead, but Windows 10 Mobile is not.

Window 10 Mobile is an entirely different platform than the Windows CE-based Windows Mobile that preceded it. You may hear or read Window Mobile, where the "10" designation is omitted, in current conversations when someone is referring to the Windows-on-phone OS that is still under active development. Don't confuse that with the dead version of the OS with a similar name.

Windows Mobile is dead. Windows 10 Mobile (though disputed) is not.

Windows on phone and Windows phone

Microsoft's enduring vision over the years has been to put Windows on phone. And through the years, it has succeeded in doing just that, though the various iterations of Windows on phone have not seen consumer success.

Still, all the various mobile Windows OSes over the years, including Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Window Phone and now Windows 10 Mobile, made the devices they ran on Windows phones (lower case "p"). So the term Windows phone is a descriptive term, defining a category of device that should be heard as Windows on phone.

Windows phone should be heard as Windows on phone.

Taking this a step further the next iteration of Microsoft's Windows-on-phone vision may be a pocketable ultramobile-PC with telephony, running full Windows on ARM. As I've mused previously this could, though there are other options, lead to the demise of Windows 10 Mobile. Full Windows will be running on "whatever this phone-like device" will be called after all. If that occurs, Windows 10 Mobile will be dead but, Windows phone, as Windows on phone, will be as alive as it has always been.

Class dismissed

Well, there you have it, folks. For those who have been uncertain when to use Windows Phone or Windows phone, or Windows Mobile or Windows 10 Mobile, I hope you're feeling a little more comfortable after this session.

I also hope everyone has a clearer understanding of Microsoft's enduring Windows-on-phone vision and how it persists despite the cessation of specific OS iterations. Finally, I hope we all walk away with an idea of where Microsoft may be headed with full Windows on ARM and how Windows on phone (Windows phone) persists in that context.

But what if in the highly unlikely event (given that Windows is Windows and as long as there is Windows, Windows on phone can never die), Windows on phone does die?

Well, that's another session, but your homework includes reading: "If Windows Phone fails, Microsoft's Phone Companion app may herald Redmond's plan B", where I explore that very scenario.

Your homework also includes sharing this Windows-on-phone terminology 101 piece and jumping into comments for a lively and friendly discussion.

That's all for today everyone. Class dismissed!

Required reading

Windows phone isn't dead

Smartphones are dead

The untold app gap story

Windows Mobile and the enterprise

The Surface Phone

Jason Ward
Jason Ward

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

123 Comments
  • Thanks for reading folks! I hope that this fun, and lighthearted piece, was helpful to someone who may have been uncertain about the tangled web of Windows on phone terminology. Frankly, this whole pool of names, and category classes nd shifting OSes and varied history could be confusion. If you found thus helpful, give it a share. So what are your thoughts, ideas and opinions? You know the drill LET'S TALK!!! And for those who didn't read, represent yourself well. Read. Then comment. I guarantee your responses will be much more relevant to the conversation and more respected by others who are part of the discussion. We want your best!
  • Your posts are always enjoyable. Great job! I had no prior confusion over the terms. Though, I think the term "pocket PC" will start to pick up more as ARM Windows matures.
  • Where's the TL;DR version that simply answers the question? :D The device is a "Windows phone."  Any other capitalisation is the name of the operating system.
  • Actually if you go into your local Microsoft Store you'll find that it's not Windows Phone or Windows Mobile.... it's iPhone loaded with Microsoft apps for iOS.
  • Haha, it's been a while since I've visited a Microsoft Store.  Maybe I should see if this is true.  But since my local Microsoft Store is in the same shopping centre as the Apple Store, I doubt they'll be selling an iPhone.
  • They're not selling them. But there is really a kiosk of highlighting Microsoft Mobile Apps on iOS
  • And here's the proof http://imgur.com/H9qUNrQ
  • You forgot to mention how HTC tried to save Windows Mobile by launching several devices with an amazing design and a finger-touch friendly skin over the OS: HTC Touch, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Pure, etc
  • Thanks remmo👍🏿
  • Yup! Making it terribly hard to differ between OSes and devices is one of the few areas where MS has managed to be consistent. 😒 Definitely a worthwhile article! Thx. There exists an even bigger terminology related problem however... A topic for another article maybe? Why do we all continue to use the terms "Windows 10" and "Windows 10 Mobile" (including in this article) when MS and WCentral have previously insisted they are both the same thing? Many have since realized that W10M is actually a subset of W10, but W10M being smaller by 70% obviously means they are different in notable ways. The confusion caused by MS and WCentral incorrectly insisting they are both "the EXACT same thing" persists to this day. On the other hand, for the two OSes that will actually be exactly the same (W10 and W10oA), this barely gets mentioned. 🙄 Clarifying this once and for all (by omitting the marketing in favour of technical correctness) would also be worth an article. 😀
  • @a5cent; My comment is below before seeing your comment. At this point I don't think they can define it because what is mobile to Microsoft at this point isn't nailed down yet with the continual progressive development of the OS like a tree that you won't know what it is until it grows tall enough and until then we will be in wonderment. Could Microsoft Cloud which make sense to me be the Mobile platform even though it do seem limited as of introduction but shouldn't be at all... 
  • @calbro I'll mention just this one reason (of many) why I disagree:
    My point has nothing to do with when and where MS uses the word "Mobile" in their naming. That's purely marketing related which I care little about. We could call W10M "Snoopy" and W10 "Charlie" for all I care. My point is that WCentral incorrectly claimed that Charlie and Snoopy are the exact same things. That technically false claim caused a lot more confusion than it helped MS get accross a point or an idea. It still confuses some today. In contrast to that, we do know that W10oA and W10 will basically be the exact same thing, but that doesn't get mentioned. An article stating what it means for an OS to be different or the same, and making clear that a subset of something can't be the same thing as the superset (which is why we require terminology to differ between the two OSes) is what I 'm asking for. What MS does or does not call "Mobile" doesn't factor into that.
  • I guess WC never understood the intricacies of the OS differences they just went ahead with whatever MS fed them.
  • Sadly, the correct spelling/pronunciation is Windows Phail
  • Lol. Alright now. That's enough.
  • Another great read. You should make a test, to see if people actually get it now. Just for fun and stats ^_^
  • Doesn't bother me one bit either way :) on the plus side... new fast insider build just popped up! 15047
  • Not sure on the future name of cellular pc's, the term cell phone was only ever used broadly in the USA outside of that it was mobile phone. I can see why they settled on it as in abbreviation form CPC is easy enough to say if it catches on, PPC (phone pc) would cause trouble as IBM CPU's from the old days used that and PCP (pc phone) is for anyone familiar with narcotics a very amusing choice so thats out too.
  • Actually, PPC was commonly used back then. There was PPC magazine dedicated to guess what: Microsoft's "Pocket PC".
  • it's windows phone
  • Nope.  Windows is now called "Windows 10".  End of story.  So on the phone, it's "Windows 10 Mobile".  That is all. 
  • Nope, that'd be Windows 10 on phone.
  • Samsung Focus! I had one. The first windows phone that support SD Card XD
  • You mean XC?
  • Hi C4rlos, yeah that's my wife's old phone😉
  • HTC HD2 Windows Phone 7. It first had WM6.5 on it but later that year it got the first WP7......with SDCard.
  • If your on 8.1 than yes Windows Phone but 10 is windows mobile
  • Hahaha this is so funny, Microsoft is in the best position to answer this question. But I think those two words are separated.
  • oh... in any case there needs to be more of them!!!
  • Truthfully I doesn't matter what's its called now or in the past. Although I thought I understood the difference.
    As a huge Microsoft fan I was dismayed from the beginning that they called their new phone OS (at the time) windows phone and phones windows phone.. I don't think Microsoft really understood the dislike of any connotation to Windows. Personally I think that held them back. They should have used the X_____ something (fill in the blank). If not straight up XPhone. Many people out there just don't like Windows it reminds them of work or problems they may have had with a computer 💻.
    Sure for some of us it's no problem but it's a bigger hurdle for some to climb.
  • I really, really wanted an Xone Phone (pronounced Zone) or Zone Phone. That was when Zune was still around though. haha.
  • Just a quick callout. The original Windows Mobile phones (not pocketpcs) were branded as Smart Phones prior to the smartphone market taking off. Once that happened the big P became a little p. The devices went the way of the big P, gone. I loved them though and still think about going back to my 5600 or MPX200.
  • Nice article!
    I enjoy reading these every week :).
    It's always handy to know when to use what terminology, especially when you search for info on certain settings.
    Keep the informative articles coming :D.
  • Thanks Kevin!
  • Good to know, thanks!
  • Windows phone, forever!  
  • 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔😐 🤔🤔🤔
  • And now the most correct way to call it is : dead os (please don't forget to downvote me because you can't accept the truth ;) )
  • No, we all know it is. We down vote you because we are tired of hearing it. Let it go.
  • Well, it seems that some people in this website don't seem to quite get it.
  • It's your job to convert us over to your perspective? I know it doesn't pay, so hopefully you get some other kind of strange joy as compensation.
  • I'm not trying to convert anybody. Everybody is free as much as I am free to say whatever I want ;)
  • -1  
  • At one point do you give up the ghost: http://imgur.com/H9qUNrQ
  • @Foxhound91 And yet you're here.😉 Keep coming😎
  • Because I'm still a windows user but I'm lucid still.
  • Won't dead , never . We r here , we r fans and Windows Phone users . We support u 👍
  • I think if we are relegated to discussing nuances like this, it's not Windows Phone or Windows 10 Mobile, it's just dead.
  • Microsoft has never been good at branding. The Microsoft community has been talking about and discussing these kinds of nuances for as long as I have been following them. 20 years or so. (Ugh, that makes me feel suuuuuper old). As I pointed out in my earlier comment. The original Windows phones where Smart Phones - big P. Smartphones came later. So... again. This is not new to us.
  • Perhaps the worst of all:
  • @Will these nuances are important, particularly because like the competition, the Windows on phone vision has gone through so many names. Writing about it, can be a challenge for some who don't keep track of what terms apply to what, and of course that affects readers perceptions and understanding. Ultimately you end up with what we have, a lot of discussion where the term is incorrectly applied and sometimes a failure to communicate. Words matter.😉
  • Who cares how you spell it. The platform is dead either way.
  • Such an original comment. /s
  • Windows Phone and Windows phone is still confusing and too semantic. It would be better to call the hardware equation of the conversation windows mobile device or instead of Windows phone. All else its high time we started critisizing mi microsofts naming. They're too plain and close to ubiquitous nomenclature to common words we use every day. They are confusing in conversation and every day dialogue.
  • This is the article why I love Windows Central :P This question has always been in my head.... Windows Phone or Windows phone or Windows on phone or Windows Mobile or Windows Mobile 10 or Windows 10 Mobile or Windows on Mobile :P :P
  • microsoft should advertise the name and brand.... somthing like this from day 1 to the end: Windows OS = brand completed X Phone = "i dont know what can be X but they have to name it for example Zune phone or ... but it is very important. i hope after surface mobile phone we will have a great name for our Phone... for example Surface phone!
  • I've still got my audiovox 5600 lol. And my 8525 :p
  • Isn't Windows 10 Mobile just the newest version of Windows Phone?
  • No.
  • Hi Vasil, thanks for the question. Please revisit the text. A brief history is clearly put forth there that answers your question.😉👍🏿
  • WHO Cares, Its dying...
  • It's Dead
  • Fake news!
  • It's rotting by now.
  • It's like WP fans are in 5 stages of grief , mostly in denial and anger. I have already moved forward from acceptance stage. WP gonna stay dead  like that unless MS does something earth-shattering which is unlikely...........
  • Except that 50 million people still use and rely on their Windows phones every day.
  • Resurrecting
  • how, with very limited hardware, and what there is, costly. App writers bailing out, why bother...
  • Right, so you've explained everything, but you've just thrown in three more terms which I've never ever heard before: "Window phone", "Window 10 Mobile" and "Window Mobile". I guess they're just teasers for your next lesson: "Window phone terminology 101"?
  • Everytime I see a picture of Nadella I want to throw my laptop. Then I realise I'm poor and can't afford another laptop.
  • windows phone. 
  • This is the perfect example of why Microsoft is failing in mobile. They can't keep names consistent or clear, or for more than a short time. iOS had been around for a decade, and it hasn't undergone a name change. In that time, we'll be looking at 4 different names from Microsoft (well, 3, as the Windows Mobile name was used both pre- and post-Windows Phone). Microsoft struggles with committing to anything, be it a name, an OS, or a long-term vision. They think the answer to a failed plan is renaming and re-releasing, but it just irks the consumer base they actually built, while confusing the masses.
  • This! And to top it all off, the only part of the branding that remained unchanged was the term "Windows"... a term many people associate with work and problems.
  • How many variations of this tedious and punctured subject of the window fone are there? Like the many heads of Hydra one dies and another grows. Now its grammar. What next, how to use a wyndow fown as an axe? Or how to make crayons out of all the broken pieces?
  • That's just silly. Thanks for reading 😉
  • Doesn't matter what you call it folks go: "What, didn't know it existed" . I stopped explaining what a950XL is, I'm still full into my Lumia950XL 🙂
  • No one speaks the name of the dead. Not even Microsoft. So it's completely irrelevant how you write it.
  • makes you wonder what the relevance of reading it is...
  • Good job Jason Ward, another insightful piece!
  • Thanks xtremez!
  • By grace....I almost held my breath in anticipation when reading this article!!!! I was honestly hoping you got it right and you did, knocked it out of the park, out of this world! THIS is exactly what I have been trying to explain to everyone and it does matter when written, especially when written in a public facing capacity. For those of us in the profession of IT or Journalism, this topic matters a lot as we are supposed to know what we are writing about and care enough to avoid confusing any reader and we shouldn't even allow the very appearance misleading readers or hoping that they would know what we are talking about. This page has been bookmarked and will be shared with all that I come across that are confused in the slightest about the matter, specifically those that write for other companies and my fellow IT labourers. Jason, THANK YOU! I appreciate it, this battle of facts, as silly as it may seem to some, has been fierce with editors of other sites that seem to despise the truth in their given task to keep the public accurately informed.
  • I'm still in awe, I didn't expect anyone to write such a clear and concise article about this topic. Sure, it's up to the readers and writers to actually care about this but now, anyone that reads this article can never say they were not told the truth about it. Thanks again. Demitrius
  • You're very welcome Deaconlgi! I'm so glad it is so helpful. Thanks for the feedback!🙂
  • You're welcome.
  • I like Pocket PC....maybe Pocket Surface?  Surface Pocket?  Pockface?  Surf Pocket?
  • Pockface would defenitely help out the current marketing strategy!
  • Interesting "Session". I've called it Windows 10 Mobile.
  • When you start talking of Windows 10 Mobile, you mention it doesn't have the CE kernel, but to make things clear you should mention that the CE kernel was dropped after Windows Phone 7 and that Windows Phone 8 switched to the NT kernel.
  • The audience that this might matter too is so small it doesn't make any real difference. It's like arguing over Latin definitions.
  • The importance of truth isn't defined by the number of those that hear it. If even 1 person has been informed and now knows the truth, this article is worth it. That 1 person can then tell another person and after a while, more people will be informed of what the difference is After all, an article is usually written by one person and hopefully, the offending writers, who use incorrect and confusing names, even 1 writer, will now write correctly.
  • The real "truth" is that almost no one cares any more about whatever MS calls their nearly defunct phone OS. I still use it myself.
  • "We do recognize that there are a lot of folks who have been writing apps for Windows Mobile for some time … If we'd had more time and resources, we may have been able to do something in terms of backward compatibility." Fatal error.  A huge part of Windows' viability has been built on application and api backward compatibility.  To orphan the existing developer and app base in the teeth of getting slaughtered by the competition was to give up Windows Mobile's one serious competitive advantage.  IMHO, it was at this point that Windows as a phone OS was finished.  
  • Jason, the first iteration of Windows Personal Digital Assistant was not the Pocket PC, but Windows CE. It later became Pocket PC. In 2005, it transformed to Windows Mobile 5.0, and then we got 6.0, and 6.1. We were looking forward to 7.0 when IOS arrived, and Microsoft decided to start from fresh with Windows Phone 7.0. By the way, the gadget equiped with Windows CE 1.0 and 1.1 were called palm size PC. I had a Casio Cassiopeia E101 running Windows CE 2.11. I never possesed the HP Jornada, but many Compaq's iPaq with Compact Flash and GSM Jackets.
  • Hi Emi, remember, this piece is about Microsoft's "phone" OSes. As mentioned in the piece, Pocket PC, was the first to run on phones and was based on CE. Also check out my piece, What Android phone and iPhone users need to know about Windows phone" linked at the end of the article. In that piece I go into greater detail of the various OSes throughout Windows on phone history. Thanks for your input!🙂
  • This article made me think of someone diagramming the final rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.
  • Hey bub78, The key is, it "made you think"😉!
    🙂 My goal is to produce thought-provoking content. Thanks for reading!
  • As usual, you are spot on. On a side note... I just fired up my Zune HD. It reminded me how much I miss the UI of the original Windows Phone 7. I may be carrying an Android as my daily driver now, but I dream of the next iteration of Windows On Phone.
  • Ok should I suggest something?
    We called it PC. And PC always meant a Windows PC. It was never a Mac PC. They have an iPhone. They have Android Phone. But we will have the Phone, just the Phone, like a PC. The Phone which will mean the one running Windows. Thats it.
  • Yes you could..... If it's android
  • Holy.... Crap.... That almost gave me a head ache. =P
  • Jason, you forgot that Microsoft was calling the version 6.5 of Windows Mobile as Windows Phone until it rebooted the OS.
  • Not that it really matters but if I saw the terms both used in one paragraph I would think 'Windows Phone' refers to software while 'Windows phone' refers to hardware. For the record, I still have a Toshiba Pocket PC e310 running PocketPC Version 3 on my desk. It still interfaces with the Windows 10 desktop.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_e310
  • I think we should refer to a Windows phone as Windows Phone phone, like in MasterCard card, for example! LOL!
  • Doesn't matter ....all dead! My toddler is using one of them (whatever it is called) as a toy. Got an android after using Microsoft phone for six years. I gave up when that f...ing Nadella gave up ! he just screwed windows phone to increase his bonus....so pathetic! 
  • The name mess is symptomatic of the total mess. Constant reboots, changes from "hubs" to standalone apps, one version of the OS not upgradable to the next, waiting for carriers to inconsistently push out updates, emphasis on the US market while other markets were left to stagnate, creating a mess of messaging by rebooting skype with each release and so on. Windowsphone, Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile have been a world of inconsistent ideas rebooting and changing with every iteration without really letting any of them embed in the market and even explain themselves to potential customers.  The history of Google's operating system name is it started as Android and it's Android. With Apple it is IOS and is still IOS.  However although the name inconsistency is a good metaphor for Microsoft's disjointed and incomprehensible mobile strategy worse still is Microsoft missing the point. People actually dont run operating systems. People run applications and the purchase of an OS is incidental to what they want to do. Customers who need Google services to work are OK on a PC with Chrome but using Windows on mobile is pointless. If people use itunes for their music then a PC is fine but Windows on mobile is useless.  The history of the Pocket PC and Windows Mobile before 2007 is they were business devices. Their ecosystem was Word, Excel, Powerpoint and most of all, Exchange connectivity. One of the biggest business criticisms of the iphone at launch in 2007 was about lack of Exchange sync (then called ActiveSync). When Apple realised this was the problem getting iphone into business they did a deal with Microsoft to add Exchange support. When Microsoft created Windowsphone (Windows Phone) as a consumer device they not only alienated their enterprise customers by lacking VPN support and many other things they also did not have a compelling consumer ecosystem. Even today Goove has no family plan and is on it's 3rd reboot.  Microsoft mobile strategy has been an oxymoron. The naming reflects their utter confusion. Their iphone envy blinded them to the ecosystem they owned and to the deficient consumer offering.
  • You sound like someone who should better go nitting or something. Buy a Mac, it always works. Haha.... Ranter without a clue like a rebel without a cause. thanks for investing your rant time.
  • I think the correct name would be just Windows because Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8/8.1 etc are just versions of the OS like Android 5,6,7 and iOS 8,9,10. Currently, when we talk about e.g. Android, we don't name it Android 7 but just Android. Am I wrong? 🤔🙄
  • @Charis i agree with you MS should simply call it Windows and that's it. Whether it is Windows running on a PC device (desktop, laptops, 2-in-1s, etc), a mobile device (tablet, phone, pocket, portable, etc), a gaming or home entertainment device (Xbox, a future portable gaming system, etc), or IoT device (atm machines, smart home appliances, etc), they are all running Windows and that's what MS should use a single marketing term, similar to how Google (and the rest of the world) uses the term Android
  • Yeah that's what I mean!!!
  • My Samsung Omnia W GT-i8350 is a Windows phone running OS Windows Phone 7.8 and my Microsoft Lumia 950 is also a Windows phone running OS Windows 10 Mobile.
  • Whatever it is... It's dead... Dead in the water
  • What's really happening is Microsoft actually is solving this mobile let's me call it dilemma by it's continual progressing with the OS and who knows they might strike gold on the creators update but I think they woudn't until they include drones, ar/vr and or combinations, other wearables because they belong in the internet of things and as well as of the mobile category.  The Microsoft Cloud which I think when they introduce it sounds limited yet the cloud in general terms can qualify as the largest computing base on the planet and can contain unbelieavalbe computing power if that make sense because of the flexibility to scale...
  • I have a Windows telephone.  A telephone by any other name is still a telephone!
  • I can't live without the 2 screen start of Windows mobile. Every other user interface in the market is CRAP.
  • Well if this all we have to talk about, then Windows phobile truly is dead!
  • Does Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Windows 10 Mobile or whaterver the name, have a future ??? NO, a very big NO. Microsoft may go on with development, but I do not think we can see any significant device in the future. If we still want Windows (mobile), wait for the smartphone become obsolete and the world has a new kind of device to embrace (right now nobody know what the future device should be). Within the phone market, It's already too late for Microsoft, not only they did not improve the ecosystem fast enough, but also the competitors are not sleeping, Google and Apple are running extreme fast and their is no sign they get distract.
  • I think you forget to mention that although some may refer to this great device as a Windows Fail, the design of the Windows Phone OS caused a big shift in design of the iOS and OSX.
    Since the Windows developers had realized a design that fits paperwork, mostly 2D untill it starts to move, has been very succesfull. Within a year all the so called Mickey Mouse designed (rounded corners in fake 3D items and buttons) on iPhone OSes had changed to the more viable and ethical correct design of the Windows Phone. Still, if an iPhone lover watches my phone shift from one page to another I can see him or her checking their own device as they ask me:"What kind of phone is that?" It's a Windows phone. Much better than an iPhone let alone an Android of Samsung phone.
    (Started with Windows Mobile 5.0, via the 6.5 on an HD2 through to the just in time WP7 now on a Windows 10 Mobile. I'm happy not to have to keep checking new specs and OS-es to stay up to date in the conversations about my phone. I don't talk a lot about my phone. Nobody does. It was important to keep faith between 2007 and 2010 but is worth waiting for. As i now have to believe the Surface Phone will be available next, integrating even more. It will be worth waiting for as was the WP7...)
  • Microsoft's Windows 10 mobile smart phones sales are so low these days many people think it's dead which it is not. Windows10 mobile insiders preview users can confirm that is TRUE. Microsoft is improving this OS. Sad to say Microsoft did not have a new Windows 10 mobile smart phone debut at 2017 MWC unless you consider the Prototype of the next HP Elite X3 there as new. it's been 16 months since the debut of the Microsoft  Lumia 950 and the 950 XL.. I hope that Microsoft remembers it made people think Windows phone was dead under devices VP Elop's days because it took 18 months before Microsoft debuts the 950/950XL.. I think people wont take Windows 10 mobile smart phones serious until Microsoft itself debuts it's OWN line of NEW Windows 10 mobile smart phones to replace the DEAD LUMIA line of smart phone be that line be called "Surface"  Smart Phone or "Windows 10 Mobile" smart phone. Microsoft must show it backs Windows10 Mobile by Making it's OWM physical Smart phones. The sooner Microsft does that the sooner People will consider buying any of it's OEM partners Windows 10 mobile smart Phones.
  • Don't blame us for not knowing what to call it. Heck, Microsoft changes the name of it's mobile platform more often than I change my shorts!
  • It's Windows Phone RIP :)
  • And THIS is why Microsoft ALWAYS has a "strategy" to get back in the game, but never actually has a PRODUCT that they stand behind. Even when an idea is growing and gaining, they abandon it. A feckless cowardly FOLLOWER, afraid of his own shadow.That is Nadella. WIndowsphone 8 WAS a consumer success. It was gaining market share, and gaining it more and more rapidly in a market that was already DOMINATED by Apple and Android.  THAT IS AN AMAZING FEAT & SOMETHING WORTH STANDING BEHIND! But Windowsphone 8 WAS gaining and growing desptite being YEARS LATE to the biggest and most important platform switch the public has made. Just like ONLY iphone and Android are available in cars and microsoft is nowhere to be seen. Microsoft--under the disasterous Nadella--is disappearing from people's lives, the company that started out with the goal of putting a Windows computer in every home--that was once SUED by the US Government for being TOO OMNIPRESENT, for pairing internet explorer with wnidows because it was turning microsoft into a Monopoly is now hardly present in homes, in people's personal lives at ALL. Nadella has destroyed the company, as his laying off of tens of thousands of workers has shown, destroyed the consumer market for Windows phones, windows PCs windows tablets, Windows PERIOD, and all that is available now is a disasterous Windows10 that is always under construction, always confusing, always disfunctional, and always ugly! WHY DOES NADELLA STILL HAVE A JOB??? Putting the Windows home consumer MONOPOLY OUT OF BUSINESS because he didnt have the guts or the competence  to stand by fantastic ideas that were growing but decided that Windows should get out of people's lives. The only thing he has succeeded at.
  • Windows Phone is better to say