Microsoft Wants Windows Phone Users to Switch to iOS or Android

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There’s no better indication that the Windows phone is dead than a support document recently published by Microsoft itself.

The document in question is actually an FAQ in which Microsoft answers a slew of questions related to the End of Support for Windows 10 Mobile. But by and far the most telling answer is the one Microsoft gives to the question “What should Windows 10 Mobile customers do now?”

“With the Windows 10 Mobile OS end of support, we recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device,” Microsoft wrote.

In other words, the Windows Phone is dead. You heard it straight from the horse’s mouth.

More specifically, of course, Microsoft will slowly begin ending support for the Windows 10 Mobile platform over the next couple of years.

For example, Microsoft will stop issuing any updates — including security updates — for Windows 10 Mobile on Dec. 10, 2019. Devices running Windows 10 Mobile version 1703 will stop receiving support on June 11, 2019.

There are a number of backend features that will be pulled later on, too. Microsoft notes that both automatic and manual device backups will stop on March 10, 2020. Other services, like restoring a device from a backup and photo uploading, may only work for a short term after that.

Of course, it’s not exactly like this is a surprise. Microsoft admitted back in October 2017 that it would stop developing new features and hardware for Windows 10 Mobile a couple months later.

Just a couple months earlier, the NYPD swapped out over 36,000 Windows Phones for iPhones after it seemed likely that the Windows Mobile platform would be phased out eventually.

Similarly, Microsoft may be realizing that it can’t continue to compete with other technology juggernauts on all fronts. At a media event this month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the firm no longer sees Cortana as a competitor to Alexa or Google Assistant.

Instead, the company sees it as a companion to other more established systems for Microsoft users. “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,” Nadella said (via The Verge).

Suffice it to say, if you’re a Windows Phone user, you may want to consider switching to another device really soon.

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