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It's the end of the road for Windows 10 Mobile; switch to Android, iOS encouraged

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By Joshua Swingle

Published: Jan 18, 2019, 10:39 AM

It's the end of the road for Windows 10 Mobile; switch to Android, iOS encouraged

The Lumia 650, Microsoft's final smartphone

Three years after it last released a smartphone and just over a year after Windows 10 Mobile was confirmed as dead, Microsoft has now announced that it’ll be ending all support for the platform by December 10th, 2019.

After this date, users will still be able to access device backups for settings and certain apps. However, support for these features will be scrapped just three months later on March 10th, 2020. Some services including photo uploads from an existing device, on the other hand, may continue to work for up to 12 months.

As a direct result of this, the world’s second most valuable company is now actively encouraging Windows 10 Mobile users to switch to “a supported Android or iOS device.” This move is no surprise considering Microsoft’s recent focus on the competing mobile platforms which has seen it launch a whole range of optimized apps and even a dedicated launcher for Android users. Eventually, the latter platform will also support mirroring with Windows 10 computers.

While on the topic of embracing competing platforms, it’s worth noting that today’s news comes shortly after Microsoft’s CEO envisioned the future of Cortana. After years of pushing the virtual assistant through Windows 10 and as a separate app on Android, the company now envisions Cortana as an integrated skill for Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, something that should improve the compatibility of these virtual assistants with Windows 10.

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