Microsoft for once acted very differently from its usual self, and Windows Phone repeatedly broke backward compatibility. Arguably even more than iOS did - and

Microsoft for once acted very differently from its usual self, and Windows Phone repeatedly broke backward compatibility. Arguably even more than iOS did - and this was one of the factors in its failure. So this is not the argument against backward compatibility you think it is. Besides, if you're comparing MS and Apple, you need to include all the VMs running Windows (it's not a physical device - but MS makes the same amount of money on it), and also MS's foothold in Cloud. Apple practically does not exist in those spaces, and Microsoft would have been in the same position had it broke compat as often as Apple does on the desktop.