Microsoft: hardware and features for Windows 10 Mobile are ‘not the focus’

Developing new hardware and features for Windows 10 Mobile is ‘not the focus’. So says Microsoft CEO Joe Belfiore. The last Lumia smartphone hit the stores a year and a half ago, but Windows 10 Mobile is still getting new builds.

Belfiore says that Microsoft will continue to release bug fixes and security updates for Windows 10 Mobile. It’s just the new features and hardware that no longer get the attention of the American software company. Some people hoped that Microsoft is still working on a ‘Surface Phone’ behind the scenes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The CEO also says that Microsoft has not been able to persuade developers to make apps for Windows smartphones. “We paid money, made apps for them, but the number of users is too low to persuade them to invest,” thus Belfiore. Microsoft has been making apps for other mobile platforms for some time now. For example, browser Edge was released for iOS on Friday and a version for Android will follow shortly. Office, Outlook and OneDrive, among others, are also available on other platforms.

In addition to apps for other mobile platforms, Microsoft continues to be active in the mobile market in another way. For example, it uses its expertise with ARM mobile socs to enable emulation of Win32 apps on laptops with Snapdragon processors. Those laptops should be more economical than variants with x86 processors. Microsoft is returning to the desktop and wants to run Windows 10 on all devices, including a new category of devices that are close to smartphones.

The last Lumia smartphone to date is the Lumia 650, which appeared a year and a half ago. Windows 10 Mobile came out two years ago, along with the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, the last high-end models that Microsoft released.