Microsoft won PC but lost mobile, what now?

Microsoft is bowing out of building its own phones for consumers. After dramatically scaling back its Lumia devices last year, Microsoft hammered the final nail in the coffin today with an additional $950 million write off and 1,850 more job losses. Microsoft's Lumia devices still account for more than 95 percent of all Windows phones sold, but a lack of new devices means sales and Windows Phone market share have declined sharply over the past year. Windows Phone is dead, and phone makers aren't interested in reviving it. Where did Microsoft go wrong, and what does it do now?

Microsoft's announcement today puts a lot of its mobile errors into perspective. The software giant wasted "thousands of man hours of innovation" with its ambitious plans for Windows Vista, according to former CEO Steve Ballmer. Vista shipped a few weeks after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone to the world back in January 2007 and changed mobile computing forever. In hindsight, Vista was a great example of how Microsoft missed the sea change of mobile.

Instead of focusing its engineering efforts on Windows Mobile, Microsoft was too invested in desktop PCs and its success at dominating that category of computing. Windows Mobile had the basic concepts of mobile computing and apps long before the iPhone, but the UI was built for devices with a stylus, designed to look like a miniature version of Windows​ right down to the Start menu. Microsoft was obsessed with having Windows everywhere. Apple introduced a smart and simplistic mobile alternative to Windows, and the industry followed its path — Microsoft included.

Microsoft's mobile failings can be traced back much further than Windows Vista, though. Ars Technica recently profiled Microsoft's impressive attempts to bring the same version of Windows to all devices. It's a history lesson that highlights the big problems of Windows Phone. Microsoft introduced a unique and innovative Live Tile interface to the world with Windows Phone 7, but it never progressed into the mainstream thanks to the constant software reboots. Windows Phone 7 users were stung by ​a lack of upgrades to Windows Phone 8​, and even Windows 10 Mobile isn't arriving on all Windows Phone 8.1 Lumia devices. Windows Phone's constant reboots were all part of a strategy to get to a single version of Windows across PCs, tablets, and phones. It was an admirable strategy, but consumer confidence was hit time and time again as a result. Phone makers were also less inclined to pay for a license to use Windows Phone, and it took Microsoft years to make it free to truly compete with Android.

After unveiling Windows Phone 7 to the world, Microsoft even tried to launch its ill-fated Kin devices. Kin was based on Windows CE instead of Windows Phone 7, and an odd internal power struggle meant it ultimately failed and was killed off in favor of Windows Phone. It was an embarrassing misstep at a time when Microsoft was trying hard to get back into mobile.

Over on the PC side, Microsoft also attempted to convert desktop users into tablet ones. Windows 8 arrived with an entirely new interface that alienated many traditional PC users, and like Windows Phone it was a stop-gap solution. Microsoft chased after the iPad with Windows 8, just like it had chased after the iPhone with Windows Phone 7. The result after this hectic scramble is Windows 10. Microsoft has finally reached its goal of Windows everywhere, but it's a little too late for its mobile ambitions.

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