Continuing folly
Microsoft is attempting to do the opposite but this strategy won't work. Software initiatives such as Continuity, which enable projects started on an iOS device to be continued on a Mac and vice versa, are just not available to Microsoft because it is starting with a vastly unpopular OS and trying to add features back to Windows, a vastly popular OS – giving users only half the experience.
It's all well and good that Windows Phone apps will work on Windows 10 and vice versa but no one will buy a Windows Phone device simply because it works with Windows 10 applications, especially when Microsoft is producing superior applications for iOS and Android.
In some ways it is strange that Microsoft persists with Windows Phone, when packing it in would be a monetary and strategic boom for the company. The resources and software engineers that created Cortana can be better used elsewhere, patching up holes and creating high-quality software directly for Windows 10.
Satya Nadella is, as he himself has said, committed to offering a quality experience on all platforms, and in some places the experience on iOS and Android is actually superior to the experience on Windows Phone, especially in terms of Office and other Microsoft apps.
Irrelevancy beckons?
Microsoft's focus on building out of Windows Phone into Windows 10 is futile and wastes resources that could otherwise be applied elsewhere, more effectively and with more of a lasting impact on the company. The design of Windows Phone is excellent and was warmly received on its debut, but has become stagnant and old as iOS and Android have both undergone significant design overhauls.
Enterprise continues to be the key area of growth within Microsoft, bringing in more and more of the revenue while mobile and other opportunities continue to fade into the background. The right thing for Nadella to do would be to close down the Windows Phone programme, stop producing hardware, focus on producing high-quality software for iOS and Android, and release Windows 10 with brand new features to critical acclaim.
Sadly, very few of these things will happen and Microsoft will continue to slip further and further into irrelevancy.
