Look at the evidence. Microsoft seems certain to finally stop trying to push a Windows-based mobile OS on us and embrace the Android future.
Opinion by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Computerworld | Apr 18, 2016 5:38 AM PT
Microsoft has been trying to get the world to use Windows as a mobile operating system since the days of Windows CE, way back in 1996. For 20 years, it has failed, over and over again.
The latest cratering could spell the end at last. Windows Phone shipments nose-dived in the third quarter last year, plummeting 35% year over year. By Gartner’s count, that gave Microsoft a whopping 1.7% of the smartphone market. Of course, before that, Microsoft had bought a major smartphone company, Nokia, that had been run into the ground, losing almost $10 billion on the deal.
IDC’s figures aren’t quite so bad, but still disheartening for Microsoft. It estimates that by the end of 2015, Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile had just 2.2% market share, while Android held 81% and Apple’s iOS 16%.
Either way, it’s clear that consumers have said no thanks to Windows on their phones. Developers? Please. Who wants to waste their time writing for a platform with no audience?
A company can only take so much humiliation.
Which is why Microsoft could finally be ready to put Windows Phone out of its misery. The market-share figures don’t tell us much, since Microsoft has endured pathetic levels of adoption for a long time. But other evidence suggests that the company is ready to go beyond supporting Android with consumer Microsoft apps and porting business apps on Android. Indeed, it’s looking as if it is preparing to fork the Android codebase and ship, either on its own or with partners, a Microsoft Android — and if it insists on trying to be a hardware company, even Microsoft Android-powered phones.
Look at what Microsoft has been doing. First, it has been de-emphasizing its platforms, even Windows on PCs, in favor of cloud-based services for some time now. It’s the cloud and servers — not Office, not Windows — that make Microsoft the most profits. Heck, Microsoft has already ported its one interesting Windows Phone-specific app, Cortana, to Android.
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3057170/android/don-t-be-surprised-when-microsoft-android-shows-up.html
Microsoft hold iPhone Funeral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAf3rjIcOQU |