With Windows 10 Mobile's imminent demise, Microsoft's iOS and Android investments are the company's new mobile strategy, right? Wrong.

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Many have presumed Microsoft's progress with bringing its products to iOS and Android, and its deeper assimilation of those platforms into its ecosystem via Microsoft Graph are a new mobile initiative. This is particularly true since Microsoft confirmed the end of Windows Mobile and traditional smartphone hardware. I wrote in July 2015 that Microsoft's goal is to infiltrate (with Microsoft apps) and assimilate (with Windows 10 and Windows Companion app) iOS and Android. I stressed the company's ideal outcome was a Microsoft ecosystem that included iOS and Android alongside its first-party mobile platform. If the Windows phone component of that strategy failed, however, Microsoft's iOS and Android investments would remain and emerge as its Plan B on smartphone hardware. It's not new, it's the remnants of a bold first-party and cross-platform mobile strategy. Today this is exactly what we're observing. This is not a new mobile strategy but the remnants of a grander first-party and cross-platform mobile ecosystem effort. The failure of "Plan A" removes the "distraction" of Windows 10 Mobile, allowing us to clearly see what's been happening for years: Microsoft's aggressive infiltration and assimilation of iOS and Android. Microsoft's Phone Companion and cross-platform apps, Windows phone plan B Expanding Microsoft's brand from the inside out

During Convergence 2015, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Capossela, stressed the company's mission to promote the Microsoft brand. In the context of Microsoft's cross-platform efforts, highlighting a distinct Microsoft identity on competing platforms was a strategic shift. Historically, product names took precedence. Microsoft products now more prominently boast Microsoft branding. In bringing high-quality polished products to other platforms, Microsoft ensures a mobile presence and a respected Microsoft-branded experience. Microsoft brought Office to iOS and Android in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Other Microsoft apps have followed. Windows phone users need only remember their complaints regarding Microsoft's cross-platform investments to see that an all-encompassing mobile strategy has long been at work. Microsoft's strategy was to "convert" rival devices into "Windows phones" as it tried to convert consumers to Windows phones. Microsoft's smartphone strategy, planting the seeds (apps) of success Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella's 2015 best-on-Windows-Microsoft-experience promise (as a counter-balance to its cross-platform efforts) is further evidence that Microsoft's all-in on iOS and Android efforts aren't a new strategy. Furthermore, Nadella said in a July 2015 email: "We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family." That vibrant Windows ecosystem also includes Windows 10's embrace of competing platforms. Assimilating iOS and Android

If Microsoft's cross-platform apps expand its brand from the inside out, Windows 10, Phone Companion app, cloud and Microsoft Graph incorporate iOS and Android into Microsoft's ecosystem from the outside in. Nearly 90 percent of all PCs run Windows. Thus, most people that use iOS and Android for mobile, use Windows for desktop computing. Microsoft is capitalizing on this by making Windows 10 PCs a hub for mobile experiences.The Windows 10 Phone Companion app ushers iOS and Android into the Windows 10 experience by guiding users to download Microsoft apps to their mobile devices. The synergy between Windows and iOS and Android doesn't end there.

Microsoft's Project Rome supports cross-platform computing.