In last few days, there have been lots of reports about Microsoft ending Windows Phone investment and again we hear the chorus of “Windows Phone is dead”. But, Windows Phone as we knew it, has been dead since the time Microsoft wrote-off Nokia D&S acquisition. It is hard for me to understand much hullabaloo over this no investment in Windows Phone nonsense.
I tried to go through recent SEC filing by Microsoft and it seems the Phone strategy adopted by Microsoft under Nadella continues to exist. Microsoft is still committed to “create a vibrant Windows ecosystem with a single set of experiences across our first-party device family and original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) offerings”.
In July 2015, we announced a plan to restructure our phone business to better focus and align resources. In May 2016, we announced plans to further streamline our smartphone hardware business. These changes in the phone business reinforce our strategy to create a vibrant Windows ecosystem with a single set of experiences across our first-party device family and original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) offerings. Part of this strategy involves focusing our phone devices on a narrower range of customer categories and differentiating through the combination of hardware and software we are uniquely positioned to offer. As anticipated, our change in phone strategy resulted in a reduction in units sold and associated expenses in fiscal year 2016, and this trend has continued in fiscal year 2017.
And since this part has been taken from SEC filings, we can take them to be the latest from Microsoft in terms of Phone strategy. Microsoft has always expected that this strategy will result in reduction in units sold as it focuses on a narrower range of customer categories.
Our endeavor is not to sound positive on negative here, we have presented it simply from Microsoft’s recent documentation. Even Windows Phone term gets a mention in SEC filing and it again didn’t sound dead yet, though technically it has been since 2015.
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