Microsoft Recommends Alternatives to Windows 10 Smartphones

It's hard to look back on, but Windows 10 phones used to be the third most popular smartphone platform, behind iOS and Android. Granted, they had such a small amount of the marketshare, 3rd place isn't saying much. They have since been discontinued. However, their support window will end on December 10, 2019. In a support document, Microsoft states that they "recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device." While it's easy to call it a failure now, you can't blame Microsoft for wanting to bridge the same continuity that Apple did between macOS and iOS. With such a large marketshare for Windows, a Windows phone wasn't the craziest idea.

Microsoft Leaves the Smartphone Market

In my opinion, Microsoft's smartphones will not be missed. They were a modern testament of the now defunct Zune and failed to keep up in today's world centered around technology. They managed to make smartphones with 41-megapixels look bad, which is the technological equivalent to placing a 18-carat diamond on a plastic ring. The decision by Microsoft to leave the smartphone market behind is one long overdue [Source: The Verge]. You know something like this will happen when Microsoft supports the Android and iOS versions of their apps more than the Windows Phone version. However, this does mean the laying off of up to 1,850 people worldwide (who may or may not have owned the phone they worked on). To end this on a relatively positive note, let's hope that the Windows Phone is remembered as a lesson to other big name companies hoping to enter the smartphone market (I'm looking at you Amazon).