This is not a drill: Microsoft admits Windows Phone is dead for real

It’s time to say goodbye for real this time. Windows Phone’s death has been slow and painful, but, as CNET spotted, the head of Microsoft’s Windows division finally admitted you shouldn’t expect anything more when it comes to Windows Phone.

Microsoft doesn’t plan to let existing Windows Phone users down — there will be security updates. But don’t expect anything new. Joe Belfiore admitted that Microsoft isn’t working on any software or hardware update.

Of course we'll continue to support the platform.. bug fixes, security updates, etc. But building new features/hw aren't the focus. 😟 https://t.co/0CH9TZdIFu — Joe Belfiore (@joebelfiore) October 8, 2017

He even admitted that there’s no way to solve Microsoft’s app problems. Companies and indie developers simply don’t want to work on Windows Phone apps — most of them probably never cared in the first place.

We have tried VERY HARD to incent app devs. Paid money.. wrote apps 4 them.. but volume of users is too low for most companies to invest. ☹️ https://t.co/ePsySxR3LB — Joe Belfiore (@joebelfiore) October 8, 2017

So there you have it. Microsoft is giving up. This isn’t the first time Microsoft is realizing things are going awry. TechCrunch’s Natasha Lomas even wrote that Windows Phone 7 was doomed back in 2012.

It’s a shame because Windows Phone’s user interface was interesting. Most of the operating system featured a black background with a focus on text instead of icons. The home screen wasn’t just a boring grid of icons and widgets, it featured tiles with previews of your apps. Microsoft tried something different with Windows Phone, but it wasn’t enough.

Microsoft is going to focus on mobile in different ways. The company has been working on mobile apps and some of them are quite successful. For instance, Microsoft Edge is coming to Android and iOS. The company has dozens of apps on iOS and Android, including Microsoft Office, Outlook, Swiftkey, Skype and more.

In other words, Microsoft is copying Sega and developing for other platforms.