Is Microsoft really going to shut down Windows Phone ?

[Sam_93]

Seeing the latest rumors and the direction MS is heading. But if they were to close the mobile OS division then why invest money to make WP 10 ? Will WP10 end up as BBOS 10 ?

edited by mod:
We'd appreciate such rumour threads including the source. Instead of shutting it down I looked for the possible source myself. I suspect it's this:

https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/win...it-unveils-new-mission-statement-to-employees

UPDATE : Just saw this http://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2015/06/30/microsoft-isnt-going-to-kill-windows-mobile-it-has-a-better-plan/

 

[realwarder]

Rumors rumors. Lets stick to facts.

WM10 will be released later this year and is looking nice.

New flagship phones being released soon.

Sales up in many key markets.

The facts speak louder than the I internet game of guess the next rumor...

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Ha ha...yeah, and I just read an article that claimed that Microsoft was going to start making Android phones in the near future.

 

[pericle]

Well Paul Thurrott seems to think that Microsoft is thinking of shutting down Windows Phone after Nadella's email that was leaked. I remember reading that on his website.

My personal opinion is that they won't shut down Windows Mobile but they most probably will sell off or shut down their phone manufacturing business. Nadella was never keen on buying Nokia in the first place.

 

[devize]

They can't shut down their manufacturing business if they plan to keep windows mobile alive because there aren't any notable windows phone manufacturers. Killing off the Lumia line would kill windows phone.

 

[DaveGx]

I'd be very surprised if they did so any time soon. They're currently building WP10 and have the Universal apps plan to help the app situation and improve and align the entire ecosystem. Unless they have sound knowledge that some devs still won't get on board or something, it'd be silly to do this now. They're also still doing well in some countries outside the US.

I wouldn't rule it out say, in a year if things are dismal, but not anytime soon. Certainly not now with Windows 10 coming out

 

[kriz225]

Well Paul Thurrott seems to think that Microsoft is thinking of shutting down Windows Phone after Nadella's email that was leaked. I remember reading that on his website.

I don't think that's what he meant in his article. At worst, I think he meant that Nadella is looking to make "touch choices" when it comes to Windows phone. That doesn't necessarily mean it's getting shut down.

My thinking is that Windows 10 Mobile is a last hoorah. They've clearly put forth a lot of work on making Windows 10 a great mobile OS. They're working on flagship hardware to come along with it. They're pushing the One Windows mantra and the whole write-once, run-anywhere (Windows) thing. I don't think Microsoft (or Nadella) want to shut down Windows phone.

However, if Windows 10 Mobile doesn't resonate and it continues to be what it is now - which, let's face it, is a pretty mediocre 3rd place - then it wouldn't make much sense for them to continue dumping money into it.

 

[Thomas Dewangga]

I think if Microsoft want to kill the Windows mobile they don't need to improve the W10 mobile OS. They don't need to make the continuum to windows mobile. Why they need to improve some devices if they gonna kill it anyway. It doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, the flagship phone has rumored in many websites. It means this is some investation that not cheap at all. Are they gonna make something better and then cut it like a bonsai tree?
I guess not. It will be so stupid and bad for business.

I think if something happen to Windows mobile it will be Microsoft gonna sell it to another investor.

 

[SOURAVMS]

If it is true anyway, then I will say Microsoft itself not understanding the significance of windows phone os. So why they are making so much effort to polish wp10. MS need to understand and take serious decision on phone segment. People using windows phone are not going to like of paying so much attention on creating android device by MS rather than they are ignoring its own platform which is much appealing and rigorous.

 

[dubor99]

Shutting down wp is the last thing MS is going to do, it will let andriod and iOS make a mockery of the OS, wont be good for biz, unless they sell to another company to solely focus on the phone department, but MS is a big boy and they can handle both the PC and Mobile departments.

 

[Kram Sacul]

After dropping the ball on a true flagship and the joke the TP has been I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Yazen]

Seeing the latest rumors and the direction MS is heading. I am feeling really tensed. But if they were to close the mobile OS division then why invest money to make WP 10 ? Will WP10 end up as BBOS 10 ?

They must have some incentive seeing as they are developing their mobile software and hardware.

They are winning bottom up in the areas Google and Apple have not saturated yet.

Of course I'd love to see them gain market share in US/EU.. I feel like a JW when I get get people to try my Lumia 1520 lol.

 

[pericle]

I don't think that's what he meant in his article. At worst, I think he meant that Nadella is looking to make "touch choices" when it comes to Windows phone. That doesn't necessarily mean it's getting shut down.

The quote below is from the article by Thurrott:

"Tough choices. Where things are not working.

Again, it’s hard to not to think “Windows Phone” when I read that. Some have suggested Surface might be part of that thought as well, but I’m not as sure about that, and feel that Surface still has an important role to play. And besides, Surface is just a tiny portion of a huge market. Microsoft’s Lumia devices are huge portion (statistically almost the only portion) of a tiny market, one that is going nowhere fast.

I hope he wasn’t referring to Windows Phone. But it’s hard to believe that’s not the message here."

 

[Sam_93]

Giving me creeps is the MS's decision to sell bing display ad service. They overhauled bing video search few days back and then dropped the bomb selling bing ad display which may have been quite a profitable business with the release of windows 10 and more people adopting it . So has MS already lost hope or what ?

 

[Ivan05il]

They are working on W10 Mobile, there are universal apps, one can port iOS and Android apps more easily. I'd say they try to make WP more popular for developers, maybe as a final try. If that does not work who knows what happens next. There will be no future versions of Windows anyway, only a continuous development of features, so there would be no dramatic changes in the OS, but if they kill their Lumia business it's game over for WP.

 

[Tasha Jaiswal]

At this time, when the synergies between PC's and Mobile phones are rapidly growing, I don't think that MS is going to shut down phone platform. In fact, MS is heading in a completely correct direction where they are focusing on building one OS for all the devices. If MS would ever shut down the phone platform that would be when they shut down their PC's business as well and that, as everyone knows, is never going to happen.

 

[Ivan05il]

Android and iOS both naturally used the same OS for both tablets and phones. In MS we had Windows, Windows RT, Windows Phone. Everybody in MS had their little playground. This unification is a move in the right direction, but it might be too late.

 

[DalekSnare]

No, it wouldn't make sense to introduce universal apps and then kill off the reason for them. They should implement more synergy stuff for those who use Windows on their phone and PC, like letting you call and text from the computer when it's connected to your phone. Kind of an obvious idea given what Apple's done; MS should do that and give people who aren't UI connoisseurs a reason to get WP.

 

[psudotechzealot]

It is possible?

 

[TechFreak1]

Well hardware has been basically moved under Terry Myserson (under Windows) so that can be interpreted two ways Windows Phone is being killed off (highly unlikely) or hardware in general is going to take a back seat in terms of the spot light and will only be used to showcase apps & services (highly likely). This also should mean we could see an end to the endless low end releases, which would be a relief in my opinion as the lines have become so mixed up and overlapping.

The other not so widely spoken benefit is the direct vertical integration between software and hardware akin to Apple thus products should run better due to better optimisations etc.

However all this is speculative and there is no point in speculating or getting depressed over click bait articles. However if Microsoft themselves came out and said it themselves then that is another matter entirely.