Windows Phone is dead. Groove Music Pass is dead.
The death of Windows Phone shouldn't really come as a surprise. But it appears it did to some. I got out of the game when Microsoft killed off their own phone division. It was in a death spiral since their acquisition. But, getting rid of those resources were, in my opinion, the real end of the phone. Killing it formally is just something which had to happen in the near future after that point.
This is really beating a dead horse, but... as I've said before... Microsoft HAD a hero brand in Lumia. It didn't take over the industry overnight. But it seems like that is what Microsoft and Nokia were hoping for. Phones NEED a hero brand as best as I can tell. When the Lumia lineup stopped producing flagship phones, they began the death spiral.
When Microsoft killed the Lumia lineup entirely they went a step further. They were no longer simply not making new flagships. They had killed the entire brand of their mobile offerings. This would be tantamount to Google buying Samsung's phone division and then closing it. Pixel phones sell, and people generally like Android. But Samsung is the hero brand. And if they disappear... Android as a whole would likely follow (though it would be a much slower death due to the size of Android's base).
Since shedding Lumia, Microsoft has spent their mobile efforts ensuring their corporate brand, rather than their mobile one, proliferates. Often, this meant that Windows Phone users were second class users within the broader Microsoft ecosystem. When these efforts started in earnest I jumped ship. Even for the faithful there was no way to save it. In fact, even with that it would have been unlikely to save it. The platform needs to offer something over the competition. When you don't have the app developers it is up the platform owner to offer something valuable to differentiate from the competition.
At this stage in the game, Microsoft made the right decision. Apple's productivity suite is trapped in their ecosystem, and while Google's stuff is a little more cross platform friendly, it isn't at the point Microsoft's is at. But, if either changed, or a suitable 3rd party emerged, Microsoft could have lost that side of their business as well. Which could have lead to losses in cloud as the company loses relevance even more. Based on things as they are, Microsoft needs to be able to continue to grow Office 365 and Azure. Wasting dev resources on Windows Phone doesn't help this. They need to remind people they exist and that they can do great things.
I don't believe it ever needed to be this way or get to this point. But I don't control the direction the company takes and it is very easy to speculate if I never need to deal with the consequences. But, at the moment, I think Microsoft's moves make sense.
They also killed Groove Music Pass. Again, another victim of what I feel are bad decisions and marketing along the way. I'm guessing subscriptions were either low enough to cause them to lose money or as close as matters. A hard loss for me. I preferred Groove's approach over others. I don't care much about recommendations. Groove, for the longest time, felt like a store you could walk in and take what you want whenever you want. And while this capability is common to all of the subscription services, it isn't straightforward. It isn't what their model is about.
But, Spotify Premium, which they are pushing people towards, seems as close as anything else. In fact, I wonder a bit about how long this was in the works. Changes over the past year or two have migrated the Groove Music Player UI to look an awful lot like Spotify. There are differences, but there are also a staggeringly large number of similarities. Including where you find your playlists, layout of playlist UI (down to how suggestions are shown). Having tried Google Music and looked at pictures of Apple's offering (despite my lack of iPhone) I was surprised by how familiar this felt.
Anyway... that is all I have for now on these topics.
This is really beating a dead horse, but... as I've said before... Microsoft HAD a hero brand in Lumia. It didn't take over the industry overnight. But it seems like that is what Microsoft and Nokia were hoping for. Phones NEED a hero brand as best as I can tell. When the Lumia lineup stopped producing flagship phones, they began the death spiral.
When Microsoft killed the Lumia lineup entirely they went a step further. They were no longer simply not making new flagships. They had killed the entire brand of their mobile offerings. This would be tantamount to Google buying Samsung's phone division and then closing it. Pixel phones sell, and people generally like Android. But Samsung is the hero brand. And if they disappear... Android as a whole would likely follow (though it would be a much slower death due to the size of Android's base).
Since shedding Lumia, Microsoft has spent their mobile efforts ensuring their corporate brand, rather than their mobile one, proliferates. Often, this meant that Windows Phone users were second class users within the broader Microsoft ecosystem. When these efforts started in earnest I jumped ship. Even for the faithful there was no way to save it. In fact, even with that it would have been unlikely to save it. The platform needs to offer something over the competition. When you don't have the app developers it is up the platform owner to offer something valuable to differentiate from the competition.
At this stage in the game, Microsoft made the right decision. Apple's productivity suite is trapped in their ecosystem, and while Google's stuff is a little more cross platform friendly, it isn't at the point Microsoft's is at. But, if either changed, or a suitable 3rd party emerged, Microsoft could have lost that side of their business as well. Which could have lead to losses in cloud as the company loses relevance even more. Based on things as they are, Microsoft needs to be able to continue to grow Office 365 and Azure. Wasting dev resources on Windows Phone doesn't help this. They need to remind people they exist and that they can do great things.
I don't believe it ever needed to be this way or get to this point. But I don't control the direction the company takes and it is very easy to speculate if I never need to deal with the consequences. But, at the moment, I think Microsoft's moves make sense.
They also killed Groove Music Pass. Again, another victim of what I feel are bad decisions and marketing along the way. I'm guessing subscriptions were either low enough to cause them to lose money or as close as matters. A hard loss for me. I preferred Groove's approach over others. I don't care much about recommendations. Groove, for the longest time, felt like a store you could walk in and take what you want whenever you want. And while this capability is common to all of the subscription services, it isn't straightforward. It isn't what their model is about.
But, Spotify Premium, which they are pushing people towards, seems as close as anything else. In fact, I wonder a bit about how long this was in the works. Changes over the past year or two have migrated the Groove Music Player UI to look an awful lot like Spotify. There are differences, but there are also a staggeringly large number of similarities. Including where you find your playlists, layout of playlist UI (down to how suggestions are shown). Having tried Google Music and looked at pictures of Apple's offering (despite my lack of iPhone) I was surprised by how familiar this felt.
Anyway... that is all I have for now on these topics.
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