3 ms·

Microsoft tried pushing their own mobile OSes for years before finally giving up when they were down to low-single-digit marketshare in the US.

dgellow 7y ago
Though they had way better result in Europe and other places in the world.
- pjmlp 7y ago
  Yep, they were around 10% over here, and considered the Android alternative for those that didn't what to get iOS, when they gave up.
mumblemumble 7y ago
"Tried" is maybe the wrong word. Windows CE was a leading OS on smart handheld devices for a good long while. Arguably, the biggest single thing that killed their market position (aside from the launches of iOS and Android, of course) was that they didn't retain backward compatibility, so Windows Phone 7 and later were effectively a completely different OS. Getting into competition with yourself is rarely a winning strategy.
- soganess 7y ago
  Yes! So yes. But also no. When Microsoft released Windows Phone 7, it really got people excited. It was a shot across Skeuomorph UI's bow. Big fonts, dark mode by default, flat and chromeless to an almost fault. It was a serious departure from the Windows Mobile days. People were (more) comfortable with it not being backward compatible. Plus WM had turned into a mess of scaling problems, 3rd party skins, over the top launchers, and apps that weren't necessary cross device compatible. But then they did it again, Windows Phone 8 was not coming to any Windows Phone 7 devices. Even though MS originally said it would. Instead, all the WP7 phones got some 7.x feature update. Everyone showing off their shining new Nokias were burned during the honeymoon and that cooled interest. Especially when compared to Apple's sterling record. And then, they did it again, sorta. Many of the Windows phone 8 devices were not going to get updates to Windows 10 Mobile. Worse yet, Microsoft walked the striking UI way back. Except for the launcher, things starter looking rather conventional. There was no coming back from that. 41MP and real OIS, Zeiss optics and xenon flash. Things that were basically unheard of until 2019 (rip xenon) were not going recollect all that lost good will.

dgellow 7y ago

Though they had way better result in Europe and other places in the world.

pjmlp 7y ago
Yep, they were around 10% over here, and considered the Android alternative for those that didn't what to get iOS, when they gave up.

mumblemumble 7y ago

"Tried" is maybe the wrong word. Windows CE was a leading OS on smart handheld devices for a good long while. Arguably, the biggest single thing that killed their market position (aside from the launches of iOS and Android, of course) was that they didn't retain backward compatibility, so Windows Phone 7 and later were effectively a completely different OS. Getting into competition with yourself is rarely a winning strategy.

soganess 7y ago
Yes! So yes. But also no. When Microsoft released Windows Phone 7, it really got people excited. It was a shot across Skeuomorph UI's bow. Big fonts, dark mode by default, flat and chromeless to an almost fault. It was a serious departure from the Windows Mobile days. People were (more) comfortable with it not being backward compatible. Plus WM had turned into a mess of scaling problems, 3rd party skins, over the top launchers, and apps that weren't necessary cross device compatible. But then they did it again, Windows Phone 8 was not coming to any Windows Phone 7 devices. Even though MS originally said it would. Instead, all the WP7 phones got some 7.x feature update. Everyone showing off their shining new Nokias were burned during the honeymoon and that cooled interest. Especially when compared to Apple's sterling record. And then, they did it again, sorta. Many of the Windows phone 8 devices were not going to get updates to Windows 10 Mobile. Worse yet, Microsoft walked the striking UI way back. Except for the launcher, things starter looking rather conventional. There was no coming back from that. 41MP and real OIS, Zeiss optics and xenon flash. Things that were basically unheard of until 2019 (rip xenon) were not going recollect all that lost good will.