Why nobody should mourn Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 Mobile

The time has come to smash open that emergency bottle of whiskey and pour one out for Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile platform. 

Wait, didn’t Microsoft’s failed mobile operating system and phones already die years ago? Yes, Microsoft stopped building new features, but it still continued to support existing devices with security and stability updates.

But all of it officially comes to an end on Dec. 10. Microsoft has set that date as the official kill date to end all support for Windows 10 Mobile. After that, Window 10 Mobile users are on their own.

And honestly, it’s about time Microsoft moves on.

Microsoft launched its ultimately unsuccessful mobile platform as Windows Phone in 2010 to compete directly with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms.

The platform was an attempt by former CEO Steve Ballmer to force its way into the mobile race and put Windows front and center in pockets as users started to shift into a “post-PC” world driven by always-on connectivity and mobile apps.

Windows Phone 7 morphed into Windows Phone 8, which then evolved into what would ultimately become Windows 10 Mobile in 2015.

By then, it was too late for Microsoft to salvage its mobile platform. Windows 10 Mobile’s core problem — it lacked key apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and Gmail available on iOS and Android — sucked its lifeblood from the very beginning and drained it until it was too anemic to compete.

Without a vibrant and growing developer community, Windows 10 Mobile was effectively blindfolded, taken out back, and shot in the head.

It was generous of Microsoft to keep supporting Windows 10 Mobile devices for years after it already died, but with less than 0.2 percent of the global smartphone mobile OS marketshare, it really is time to bury it and move on. It’ll suck for the loyalists (anecdotally, I’ve seen a few of them still in the wild), but it’s better for Microsoft’s future.

Ending support for Windows 10 Mobile lets Microsoft focus on bringing its best services to where users are: iOS and Android. It’s not so much of a knockout as it is bowing out gracefully with dignity  to fight another day.

“Windows 10 Mobile will finally, finally die at the end of this year, but it won’t be the end of Microsoft’s plans for mobile.”

Microsoft’s already been making these changes over the last few years. The company’s brought its Office apps to iOS and Android. Features like Timeline, Clipboard, and Pick Up Where You Left Off for iOS and app mirroring on Windows 10 PCs for Android are all ways to meet users on their existing platforms and have already proven more effective than trying to convert them to switch to an inferior mobile platform.

Under CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s accepted its stumbling with Windows 10 Mobile and has steered the tech giant to become a stronger services company, and it’s paying off. The changes to the company, bolstered not just by Windows 10, but also by investments in Azure, “edge computing,” AI, and Surface devices, and Xbox all contributed to Microsoft briefly becoming the world’s most valuable traded company last year.  

Against all odds, Microsoft quietly took home big wins in 2018 by narrowing its focus to areas where it could lend its strengths to.

The official death date for Windows 10 Mobile shouldn’t be mourned, but celebrated. The fog has cleared and the sky is now clear for Microsoft to take off into the future without old baggage weighing it down.

We may hear some of these new mobile plans as early as February, where Microsoft will have a presence at at the upcoming Mobile World Congress. Microsoft’s also reportedly making big investments in developing hardware and software for some a foldable device of some sort. And maybe Microsoft’s still working on that rumored Surface Phone. So there’s a lot to look forward to.

Windows 10 Mobile will finally, finally die at the end of this year, but it won’t be the end of Microsoft’s plans for mobile. With the right cards, Microsoft could pull off a comeback in mobile not possible with Windows 10 Mobile anchoring it down.