Microsoft moving away from consumer phones, might linger in enterprise moving forward

The fate of Windows Phone or Windows 10 on Mobile has been up in the air for some time now since Microsoft has repeatedly proven that it is pulling back (but not out) of the mobile market altogether. With the recent sale of Nokia's feature phone business plus the general ambiguity regarding the direction of Microsoft as a mobile device maker, we now get confirmation that the company is looking to move past its desire to compete in the consumer smartphone market. With market share falling less than 1 per cent globally, there's really little else the company can do to make their platform more exciting for consumers at this point.

The end result of this is Microsoft will continue to streamline the company’s smartphone hardware business, which will impact up to 1,850 jobs. This will also cost $950 million in restructuring cost. Microsoft bought Nokia's smartphone business for $7.2 billion and that disastrous acquisition has all but been written off and resulted in the demise of the once proud Nokia hardware brand plus the whittling away of market share of Windows Phone which was the third largest platform although always way behind Android and iOS.

A company memo declared that Microsoft is removing any technological advantage Windows Phone devices may have had. Devices head Terry Myerson said that Microsoft has to "be pragmatic and embrace other mobile platforms with our productivity services, device management services, and development tools — regardless of a person’s phone choice, we want everyone to be able to experience what Microsoft has to offer them."

The best news is that current Lumia and Windows Phone users will be supported at least for the next few year. "We always take care of our customers, Windows phones are no exception. We will continue to update and support our current Lumia and OEM partner phones, and develop great new devices," Myerson reiterated in his memo.

The irony here is that Windows 10 on Phones is actually getting a lot better in terms of fuctionality, look and feel. Many of the major apps are available as direct ports on the platform. Is the latest direction a temporary retreat or the final step in eradicating what was once a promising platform that really was the closest in spirit to making personal computing a pocketable experience.

Source: Recode