Paul Thurrott on the future of Windows Phone ...
"Let's be clear, Windows Phone is a failure. ... There's no future for Windows Phone." - Paul Thurott, July 9, 2015 -
... from last week's What The Tech Episode 266:
youtube.com (Video)
There is of course no more 'Windows Phone.' We are back to 'Windows Mobile' (specifically Windows 10 Mobile) and we'll evidently see 4 to 6 new 1st party Microsoft (Lumia?) Mobile devices released at an event on September 24th where the company will launch Windows 10 Mobile officially.
Paul's take on the future of the platform is discussed for 15 minutes starting at 25:16 of the webcast linked above. His lates comments are in the article below:
>> On Eve of RTM, Terry Myerson Speaks About Windows 10, Windows Phones and More
Paul Thurrot July 14, 2015
thurrott.com
Microsoft’s Terry Myerson spoke at the Worldwide Partner Conference keynote yesterday, and as you might expect, his presentation focused largely on Windows 10. But as a Windows phone fan, I was most interested in what he said—or didn’t say—about this beleaguered platform.
So let’s address the elephant in the room first.
It’s pretty clear that my take on Microsoft’s smart phone moves has been perceived by many as being negative or at least overly-fatalistic. I don’t see it this way, obviously. In fact, I think the warning signs have been there for Windows phones for years. But I do spend an inordinate amount of time parsing what Microsoft says, and regardless of your take on my Windows phone opinions, you may find this mini-assessment of Mr. Myerson’s phone comments of interest. This is especially true as some see Myerson’s comments yesterday to be some kind of indication that Microsoft has recommitted itself to smart phones.
He did not do that.
Myerson did utter a version of the word “phone” 25 times during his bit at the WPC keynote. He repeatedly mentioned phone as a component of the Windows 10 device lineup—”the Internet of Things, on phones, tablets, PCs, Surface Hub and HoloLens,” for example—and there was a major Windows phone demonstration during his speech. These collectively indicate to me that Microsoft is trying to at least soften the blow of last week’s bad news.
My big takeaway, however, is that Myerson simply corroborated my belief that Microsoft’s short-term goal with Windows phone is to find some niche in which this platform can provide a unique and valuable differentiator for the short term: Continuum, a way to turn your phone into a PC. There was a lengthy Continuum demo that should excite the fans of this platform.
What Myerson didn’t do was say anything new about flagships. “Last week, we announced the focusing of our Lumia lineup,” he said. “But let me be clear, soon you will see premium new Lumias designed for Windows 10.” This was met by applause, even though we already knew this. And he was the only Microsoft executive to even utter the word “Lumia” during the entire WPC keynote on Monday. Several mentioned Surface, by comparison.
Long story short, I don’t feel WPC did a thing to change the picture I’ve presented about the future of Windows phones. We’re going to get at least two new flagship devices this year, Microsoft will make fewer and better-targeted handsets, and the firm has no intention of growing this business.
Again. We already knew all that. ... <snip rest> # # #
- Eric L. - |