Rumour: Windows 10 Mobile in its current form and Lumia phones to be scrapped

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Found on winfuture.de (article in German): 

 

According to Eldar Mutarzin Microsoft Russia has told partners that Windows 10 Mobile running on ARM CPUs will be a thing of the past soon. It is to be replaced by Windows 10 running on x86. Development of the Lumia series of phones is also allegedly going to be stopped; it is to be replaced by an Intel-based Surface phone which will be released in September of 2016.

 

As always I would take this rumour ###### grano salis.

 

[JustGeorge]

If they pull an "RT", they're done in mobile. They don't have the political capital with consumers for another reboot.

 

[wakjak]

6 minutes ago, AR556 said:

If they pull an "RT", they're done in mobile. They don't have the political capital with consumers for another reboot.

 

They've been done in mobile since they started. They should get out of the mobile phone business.

[Stoffel]

28 minutes ago, AR556 said:

If they pull an "RT", they're done in mobile. They don't have the political capital with consumers for another reboot.

 

As long as the UWP apps still work on the new platform they can get away with it i think

[LUTZIFER]

MS has got to stop with the restarts. They don't give something enough time to gain popularity.

Changing things completely all the time just pisses people off, when MS should be trying to fix what they have.

Windows Mobile has been around a very very long time, and has had cellphone capabilities long before iPhones even came out,

yet most people haven't even heard of Windows Phone, let alone how long its been around.

[Zinomian]

Sad....Before the iPhone came out, the best phone I ever owned was an HTC Windows phone with the slide keyboard (cant remember the name or model), but the dam thing was amazing.  Was the only device with active-sync which allowed full outlook sync, and unlike blackberry, didnt require software or a server.

 

MS must must must get their app store in order, and maybe, just maybe, they can keep the dream of a MS phone alive.

[Mugwump00]

Well ooobviously this would be a disaster, as it was for the Apple laptop.   All it would enable would be a PC in your pocket (just add Bluetooth and Miracast).  Nightmare/pointless/DOA/shameful etc.

 

And Tiles!!

 

[FunkyMike]

26 minutes ago, LUTZIFER said:

MS has got to stop with the restarts. They don't give something enough time to gain popularity.

Changing things completely all the time just pisses people off, when MS should be trying to fix what they have.

Windows Mobile has been around a very very long time, and has had cellphone capabilities long before iPhones even came out,

yet most people haven't even heard of Windows Phone, let alone how long its been around.

Realistically speaking what would be the fallout if this was to occur?

 

Software wise there wouldn't even be a huge difference to the consumer. Is battery life an issue for mobile x86 chips?

 

That previous report about the Lumia 650 being the last Lumia might turn out to be true. 

 

A gap of no phones from Feb all the way to September just for a first gen Surface phone is pretty big. These phones probably won't make it onto shelves until the years end.

 

If all of this turns out to be true hen they are butchering the Lumia brand, removing advertising and creating a gap of no new devices.

 

The lowering of Lumia prices would make sense in that regard.

[alphaomegainfinity]

Very confusing signals from Microsoft if this is indeed true. Former CEO Balmer goes on to acquire Nokia for a hefty sum since Nokia's balance sheets were bleeding. And present CEO Nadella thinks of scrapping the Lumia brand and Mobile OS. Microsoft's problems on the mobile platform were not linked to the  hardware but the absence of high quality apps. Hardware quality was decent right from Nokia days .

[Draconian Guppy]

15 hours ago, FunkyMike said:

Realistically speaking what would be the fallout if this was to occur?

 

Software wise there wouldn't even be a huge difference to the consumer. Is battery life an issue for mobile x86 chips?

 

That previous report about the Lumia 650 being the last Lumia might turn out to be true. 

 

A gap of no phones from Feb all the way to September just for a first gen Surface phone is pretty big. These phones probably won't make it onto shelves until the years end.

 

If all of this turns out to be true hen they are butchering the Lumia brand, removing advertising and creating a gap of no new devices.

 

The lowering of Lumia prices would make sense in that regard.

Not much in reality, for the average Joe.

4 minutes ago, alphaomegainfinity said:

Very confusing signals from Microsoft if this is indeed true. Former CEO Balmer goes on to acquire Nokia for a hefty sum since Nokia's balance sheets were bleeding. And present CEO Nadella thinks of scrapping the Lumia brand and Mobile OS. Microsoft's problems on the mobile platform were not linked to the  hardware but the absence of high quality apps. Hardware quality was decent right from Nokia days .

IIRC, that was the initial proposal,  first scrap the Nokia Brand from lumias, then, scrap the lumias to introduce their own Brand, etc.  I don't see what the big issue is. Also, renaming surface pone, makes sense in the total scheme of things, as does anyone else, Samsung, iPhone, etc.  Galaxy phone, Galaxy Tab.  Surface tab surface phone?

[Torolol]

me thinks Microsoft should temporarily adopt Samsung Strategy to flood the market with WP hardware at loss, and make tons of 1st & 3rd party apps, from productivity to games, available in digital store.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Well this does sort of tie in with the "Surface Phone" rumours and the 650 being "the last Lumia"

[guru]

 

12 minutes ago, Torolol said:

me thinks Microsoft should temporarily adopt Samsung Strategy to flood the market with WP hardware at loss, and make tons of 1st & 3rd party apps, from productivity to games, available in digital store.

too late for that now. 3 years back. may be they had a chance.  

 

Well, everyone was expecting Surface phone to be x86 anyway. so in that case its not news. whats really news is that WP as separate mobile OS is dead. WP10  ui could just be a "launcher" over Win10

[alphaomegainfinity]

Buy Nokia, scrap Lumia, fire 10000 employees and scrap the mobile OS. The decisions taken by a mature company like Microsoft over the last 2 years are too hasty in my opinion.  They released high end camera phones , low end mobiles, mid-rangers over the last 3 years but still they couldn't attract market share beyond 3%. That miniature market share will be always regarded as a niche market. When Nadella spoke about mobile first cloud first strategy on assuming the helm, and that  now he speaks that Microsoft Mobile is unsustainable, it points to only one direction. Release tons of Microsoft apps for iOS and Android and keep them updated and release last remnants of Nokia legacy phones like 950, 950XL,550 and 650 only for the diehard MS followers. But if Microsoft releases the Surface phone with x86 version OS and scraps Lumia brand  then what will be the direction of Win 10M? Will it support ability to run x86 apps and executables ? Or if the mobile OS is scrapped then how early adopters of Win 10 Mobile will be supported? Obviously these queries are hypothetical but they are an attempt to know about future mobile strategy.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Nokia would have exited Windows Phone anyway, Microsoft just ensured the brand had a bit more time.

[Draconian Guppy]

9 minutes ago, alphaomegainfinity said:

Buy Nokia, scrap Lumia, fire 10000 employees and scrap the mobile OS. The decisions taken by a mature company like Microsoft over the last 2 years are too hasty in my opinion.  They released high end camera phones , low end mobiles, mid-rangers over the last 3 years but still they couldn't attract market share beyond 3%. That miniature market share will be always regarded as a niche market. When Nadella spoke about mobile first cloud first strategy on assuming the helm, and that  now he speaks that Microsoft Mobile is unsustainable, it points to only one direction. Release tons of Microsoft apps for iOS and Android and keep them updated and release last remnants of Nokia legacy phones like 950, 950XL,550 and 650 only for the diehard MS followers. But if Microsoft releases the Surface phone with x86 version OS and scraps Lumia brand  then what will be the direction of Win 10M? Will it support ability to run x86 apps and executables ? Or if the mobile OS is scrapped then how early adopters of Win 10 Mobile will be supported? Obviously these queries are hypothetical but they are an attempt to know about future mobile strategy.

The software (winpho) should remain the same regardless of the hardware? 

Imo as far as strategy, they are dumping  ARM based for their own design, to have better control over their hardware on the flagship pones, does that make sense?

[MorganX]

This could  be the only way to save the platform. Phablet running Windows 10 Mobile on Intel, if it runs UWP apps and the phones are high end/flagship enough, there could be a glimmer of hope. But the apps have to come. When CapitalOne has their fantastic banking apps, I'll believe it. They're phone app is so good on the Note 5, I use it instead of the web site when I'm at the desktop. The Note 5 hardware is fantastic too. MS has to do something about the app situation, and get their hardware act together.