Last year, Microsoft announced that it will be a killing off Windows phones. Now as the company prepares to fulfill its promise, it is recommending Windows phone owners to switch to Android or iPhone.
When Microsoft first announced plans bring Windows on mobile, it hoped to beat Android, iOS and blackberry. In an effort to boost its plan, the company acquired Nokia's mobile unit so that it could build Windows Phone products internally. But things didn't go as planned as there were low demand for the product coupled with the lack of interest among mobile consumers. So giving up and admitting defeat, the company is now urging anyone who still uses its Windows 10 mobile platform to switch over to an Android device or iPhone and use its range of applications on either platforms instead as it will cease to support the OS by the end of the year.
This recommendation was first spotted in the Windows 10 Mobile support page by Thurrott , a site that covers Microsoft. According to the page entitled “ Windows 10 Mobile End of Support: FAQ “, Microsoft will stop sending "new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free assisted support options, or technical content updates" to Windows 10 as of December 19 2019. Only a few phone models will be receiving support until that final date.
"With the Windows 10 Mobile OS end of support, we recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device. If Microsoft's mission statement to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, compels us to support our Mobile apps on those platforms and devices."
With that said, Microsoft is concentrating its efforts into building and integrating its products on both the iPhone and Android. It also has a partnership with Samsung, which sells some versions of its flagship Galaxy phones with its Office pre-installed.
Microsoft also admits that its AI Cortana is no longer able to compete with Alexa and Google’s Assistant. So it is looking to integrate with the popular platforms rather than fight against them.
" Cortana needs to be that skill for anybody who’s a Microsoft 365 subscriber. You should be able to use it on Google Assistant, you should be able to use it on Alexa, just like how you use our apps on Android and iOS so that’s at least how we want to think about where it’ll go." — Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO
Although, updates on Windows is soon to end, certain online services will continue to operate
beyond that date; device backups for settings and applications will work for three months, to March 10, 2020, and photo uploads and restoring devices from backups will work for 12 months beyond the end of support.
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