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Microsoft'south latest quarterly results evidence such abysmal phone sales, it'south hard to believe that the Windows 10 Mobile ecosystem can recover. Less than a week ago, we covered the new partnership between Microsoft and TripAdvisor, and speculated that Redmond might be trying to leverage its desktop and laptop market share to boost telephone compatibility. Information technology seemed like a long shot, simply cross-platform app compatibility was one of the major selling points of Windows x. Afterward seeing how much Windows 10 Mobile device sales have declined, nonetheless, I'chiliad no longer certain even this long shot has a take a chance of working.

Windows 10 Mobile Windows Phone 8.1

The supposed ecosystem just isn't coalescing.

Microsoft's smartphone revenue fell 49% final quarter, after accounting for currency fluctuations. The company'south Form 10Q contains some ugly details: Microsoft shipped 4.v million Lumia phones and 22.5 million "other" phones in Q4, compared to x.five million and 39.vii million devices in the prior yr.

What really makes this situation ugly is the fact that Microsoft launched iii new devices in Q4. The Lumia 950 and 950XL were modestly well-received (the Lumia 550, not so much), just ongoing bugs in Windows 10 Mobile and Microsoft's much-hyped Continuum feature were criticized every bit half-baked. The general consensus from reviews is that Windows 10 Mobile and the new college-terminate Lumia devices are perfectly adequate — but nobody is going to switch away from iOS or Android considering Windows 10 Mobile is adequate.

To put this in further perspective; an estimated 400 million smartphones were sold last quarter. A bit more 1% of them were Lumia-branded smartphones (information technology's not clear which devices are included in the "other" category). Similar Blackberry, Microsoft faces steadily declining acquirement and a shrinking user-base. Granted, Blackberry would dearest to exist putting upwards Microsoft's numbers, since it only sold an estimated 0.7 million devices in financial yr Q3 2022, compared to Microsoft's 4.v million Lumia's but device shipments are falling steadily at both companies. The Priv has nonetheless to reverse Blackberry's overall turn down, and MS has no equivalent plan to launch branded Android products.

Microsoft missed the gunkhole

I know we've got some Windows Telephone fans, including Jamie himself, and so let me exist clear — I'm not saying Windows ten Mobile deserves to dice, or that it's a bad OS. As near as I can tell, there'southward a bit of karmic reversal going on here. Microsoft's old smartphone Bone, also chosen Windows Mobile, never deserved the market share it enjoyed, while Windows Phone seven and its successors never found a market for what they had to offer.

It's difficult to see a future for Windows 10 Mobile. Even the idea that MS could leverage its PC ecosystem to bring apps to mobile devices nevertheless rested on the supposition that someone was buying the hardware.

Unlike The Verge, I'g non quite willing to declare Windows Phone expressionless, if but because Microsoft has the resources to proceed working and iterating on the platform. After seeing these Lumia figures, nonetheless, it's obvious that Windows Telephone is on life support with niggling chance of recovery.

There's nothing incorrect with Windows x Mobile'southward features or capabilities, just they should've been introduced 3-5 years ago. If Microsoft had offered users the ability to move apps and data flawlessly betwixt mobile devices and desktops dorsum in 2022 – 2022, it might have captured much of the early tablet market and set the class for the time to come of mobile computing. Instead, information technology's slowly being squeezed back into the desktop/laptop market.