Microsoft’s all-but-euthanized Windows Phone 7.5 and 8.0.
The company last week reminded users that support had ended for the aforementioned versions of its mobile operating system and then delivered the bad news that “On February 20, 2018, Mobile Push Notification services will be turned off for Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8.0.”
Without notifications Windows Phone’s “Find your phone” feature won’t work and Live Tiles won’t update. And of course other notifications won’t flow.
Phones running the OS will still function, but as developers never really took to the platform and apps are therefore scarce, it’s hard to imagine too many users will cling to the devices.
Those that do will continue to enjoy a GUI that offered a very decent alternative to Apple’s gridded icons and Android’s choice of launchers offering different experiences.
Microsoft, however, could never quite convince handset-makers or developers to put serious muscle behind the OS. Nokia did go all-in on Windows Phone, but did so as it entered what turned out to be terminal decline. In 2013 Microsoft bought Nokia for US$7.2bn/€5.44bn, hoping that it could drive the market for handsets running its mobile OS and use the company’s patent portfolio to both protect itself and stymie rivals.
Just 15 months later the company wrote off $7.6bn as it became apparent that it could not kickstart a market for Windows Phone handsets, even when sold at bargain prices. The rest is history: an iOS and Android duopoly and handset-makers other than Samsung and Apple struggling to make decent profits.
Microsoft’s mobility strategy now appears to revolve around Windows 10 laptops powered by Qualcomm’s Arm-based Snapdragon chipset, sold through telcos and bundled with mobile data services.
