Cue the funeral for Microsoft’s Windows Phone

“Poor little Windows phone could have a bigger effect on Microsoft’s business than you’d think,” Mark Hachman reports for PCWorld. “As the company’s mobile device strategy continues to disintegrate, Microsoft may feel compelled to push harder on Windows 10 adoption and paid services to prove it can survive without a viable smartphone — and that could be bad news for consumers.”

“The raw numbers are shocking: Microsoft sold a minuscule 2.3 million Lumia phones last quarter, down from 8.6 million a year ago,” Hachman reports. “Phone revenue declines will only ‘steepen’ during the current quarter, chief financial officer Amy Hood warned during a conference call.”

“Chief executive Satya Nadella opened his remarks to analysts optimistically, however, by noting that Windows 10 now powers 270 million devices in active use, a steady increase in its user base since the formal launch of Windows 10 last July,” Hachman reports. “Later on, he summed up Microsoft’s message: ‘In this world, what matters most is the mobility of a person’s experience, not any one single device,’ he said.”

“Will Wall Street buy it? If it does, Nadella will be free to continue,” Hachman reports. “But if investors begin to get cold feet, you might see Microsoft push Windows 10 more aggressively to keep its numbers up… If investors start putting the screws in, you can’t help but wonder if there will be more pressure to pay up.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: No problems here, since we’re very happily 100% Microsoft free and have been for many, many years.

For us, watching Microsoft flounder around like a dying fish on land brings immense schadenfreudian enjoyment to each and every day. 🙂