Any move that Microsoft makes in the smartphone space must have existing Windows 10 Mobile and Windows Phone users at the forefront of the decision-making process. There are several reasons why it’s important that Microsoft do this.

One estimate puts the active Windows 10 Mobile and Windows Phone install base at around 7 million. And that’s been whittled down from the 110 million units sold between 2011 and 2016.

In the grander scheme of things 7 million devices is not a huge number for Microsoft. On the other hand, it is the only user base they currently have in the smartphone world.

Seen from that perspective, this is a very important market for anything that Microsoft does in the smartphone segment, no matter how small that market seems. If Microsoft does release a consumer smartphone that can run the full version of Windows 10, this is the segment they’ll first want to target.

Why? Because these users are the people who stuck with Windows no matter what. They resisted the onslaught of Android, some of them for several years. And they’re still hanging on in the hope that Microsoft will start paying more attention to them and treat them with a little respect.

Unfortunately, we’re not seeing any signs of that. Granted, Microsoft’s vision for mobility goes beyond device-oriented operating systems, but they cannot afford to ignore such a loyal group of users, no matter what their larger agenda for the future of mobility might be.

The second important aspect is that the users of these 7 million active devices will be brand ambassadors for Microsoft’s mobile push. And they’re do it for free because they love Windows, not because they’re being paid to do it.

When Microsoft does launch its premium smartphone running the full Windows 10 – possibly this year if they can get everything together in time, or perhaps even in 2018 or beyond – then these Windows 10 Mobile and Windows Phone users must be the first group they reach out to.

Now, not all of them are going to jump on the bandwagon when Microsoft releases a premium device, for obvious reasons. But some of them will, and that alone can give a considerable boost to user base in the initial months after the launch. And far more important is the goodwill that Microsoft will garner by paying attention to Win 10 Mobile and Win Phone users now, when those users need them the most.

Although Microsoft does say that Windows 10 Mobile is “alive” and that they’re getting the attention they deserve, most device users of Windows Phone and many users of Windows 10 Mobile will tell you that is not the case. And it’s being made worse by app developers abandoning the platforms altogether. Windows is now down to 0.3 percent of the entire smartphone install base.

Sure, a few companies do update their apps and have even developed UWP apps based on how many people are actually using their apps, but there’s been a slowdown in app update activity over the past year, and it is undeniable.

That brings us to the next argument for Microsoft to keep at least Windows 10 Mobile going strong: UWP apps. The whole idea behind the Universal Windows Platform was for developers to be able to create device-agnostic applications. Implicit in that concept is the fact that there needs to be a device user base that can take advantage of such apps. If there are only desktops and tablets to address in terms of install base, why bother developing a UWP app when web versions can be more robust?

Looked at that way, it’s much better to do what Google is doing with Progressive Web Apps. Those are device-agnostic as well, after all. But what Microsoft needs is a bigger mobile device base for UWP apps to become successful.

Windows Central’s Jez Corden makes this point in a solid piece on Windows 10 Mobile:

“For the Windows Store to be anything more than an extra hoop to access services available on the desktop web, UWP needs a mobile endpoint. Otherwise, UWP might as well be thrown onto the scrapheap along with Windows 10 Mobile.”

I would agree, and even go further to say that you can’t point to Surface tablets or PCs or Surface Hub, for that matter and say “there, you have your devices”, because UWPs are intended – and expected – to go beyond the traditional desktop experience.

What Microsoft really needs to do now is use Windows 10 Mobile as a transitional platform for whatever they’re planning on next. But they’re not doing that; they’re slowly throttling it by denying updates to devices, and going much slower on Insider builds for mobile when compared to builds for PC.

That’s sort of incongruent with the idea of Windows 10 being platform agnostic. Why shun an existing mobile user base when mobile is your ultimate objective? It’s not like Microsoft needs more PC users, although that would help. What they need is more users on mobile – and it shouldn’t matter at this point whether that’s on Windows 10 Mobile or even Windows Phone.

That’s not the way Microsoft sees it, sadly. And the company needs to address that issue before it is too late: before Windows 10 Mobile users just throw up their hands en masse and say “you didn’t care about us so why should we support you” when the time comes.

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