Yes, there was a break from early Windows Mobile (pre WinPhone7) because that UI system was really more or less a classic Windows GUI squeezed into a small scre

Yes, there was a break from early Windows Mobile (pre WinPhone7) because that UI system was really more or less a classic Windows GUI squeezed into a small screen and it sucked (unless you had a pen, but it was still a tad cumbersome). I bought a cheap WP7 Nokia to develop on and the thing i remember most was that the UI was as smooth as Apple and not a stuttery one like Android of the same age. Don't remember exactly why they left WP7 owners in the dust, but the biggest issue with it was that they fell for the Osbourne Effect and left quite a few mobile merchants pissed off about the amounts of WP7 devices left in stock that nobody wanted (and since those mobile merchants were often not the same as those with MS brand trust from the computer industry they felt no reason to give them a second chance). While customers might've been a tad cautious, the biggest reason IMHO why WP8 died because few carriers,etc wanted to stock or sell them to begin with.