Microsoft's Looking To Reboot Mobile with New Software and Hardware: Sources (thurrott.com)

Long time Microsoft watcher Brad Sams, reporting today: Two independent sources inside of Microsoft have told me that there is a new hardware device being tested internally and that there is also a separate branch of Windows Mobile for this device. I have been hearing about the software update for some time and the added hardware component makes sense as the company is pursuing "new experiences" with this device. Additionally, the UI is expected to be different than what we know today as Windows Mobile but the exact changes are still evolving as we are in the early days of development of this experience. There may also be another 'cut' in the support for older applications with the new mobile experience. I have heard, but am not able to fully confirm at this time, that Silverlight applications may not longer work with the updated OS.

Comments

Oh great

[DontBeAMoran]

Microsoft is copying Hollywood now.

Re:Oh great

[phantomfive]

Nadella: "I want a new cell phone!"
Underling: "We tried sir, three times. (under his breath: we should have kept Windows Mobile, at least people bought it)."
Nadella: "Well make it different this time. Make it in the cloud!"
Underling: "Uh....ok. (under his breath: does that even mean anything?)"
Nadella: "And put some AI in it. Our Taybot was showing good results!"
Underling: "Heil sir!"
Nadella: "What?"
Underling: "Nothing, sir. Should we make it IoT?"
Nadella: "If it has that Intel Inside, nothing can fail"
Underling: "ok........"

Re: Oh great

[Archangel Michael]

Google, is actually on its second, and a third is in production. It bought Android and had a version in development before it did. They have another one in development now.

Re: Oh great

[ArmoredDragon]

Google, is actually on its second, and a third is in production. It bought Android and had a version in development before it did. They have another one in development now.

I figured somebody would say that, and that isn't accurate. An unreleased product isn't a product, it's a prototype. It's perfectly normal for prototypes to go under major revisions before they are released. As for Fuschia, nobody really knows whether that will see the light of day, and if it does, it's more than likely going to retain app compatibility.

When I say iteration in this context, I mean they broke compatibility with existing implementations. And with that in mind, Microsoft is currently on iteration number 4 (windows mobile with PE binaries, windows phone 7 with an early pre-RT framework, windows phone 8 with an incompatible but newer RT framework, and windows phone 10 with the UWP framework) and it sounds like they're about to have iteration 5 soon.

What makes this particularly embarrassing is that they've gone through 3 of these iterations within the last 5 years, whereas iOS is 10 years old and Android is 9 years old. That, and the fact that they knew the transition from 7 to 8 was going to break things long before they even released 7, which is a mean thing to do to your own fans.

Stephen Elop

[Anonymous Coward]

So, which Company is he going to destroy from the inside next?

Of course Microsoft is looking to reboot

[enjar]

Rebooting is the first step of troubleshooting any Microsoft problem.

There's no rebooting that business

[JoeyRox]

It's bricked worse than router that lost power during a firmware update.

Separate branch

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> separate branch of Windows Mobile for this device

Because...why not, I guess. Isn't that how every other failed "apps on Windows" effort has always begun?

Gotta respect that optimism

[grasshoppa]

This time, THIS TIME, it'll work.

Optimism is often a stand in for insanity.

Re:let me guess

[nwf]

And has a shag carpet back for the premium feel.

Re:I actually liked their last mobile OS

[rogoshen1]

Yep. i liked my Lumia, good little phone (and cheap, $60 or so from target with no contract) only problem was the plastic contacts for the power and volume buttons got finky after a couple years of use.

Re: Can't wait...

[ArmoredDragon]

Google is trying to create whole new market segments, and if those market segments don't feel like big winners, then they ditch them. Essentially the same concept as the myriad of startups that fail. That, and Google wants to out-facebook Facebook, so they also routinely discard social media projects that are only moderately successful, even if they're quite profitable.

Microsoft is trying to force its way into an already saturated market that is seeing limited growth by throwing shitloads of money at it, and they keep hoping that gimmicky features will somehow make them stand out, only to find out that those features don't work. For example, they forewent a notification shade saying that the tiles were better, and then realized that tiles sucked for that purpose so they added a notification shade years later.