The biggest reason was Microsoft itself. I’m a huge Lumia fan and have a Lumia 950 to the bitter end, but….if anyone is to blame for the Windows Phone’s demise, it’s Microsoft and their shady, wobbly policies.
This failed policy made Nokia a shadow of what it once was and destroyed Windows Phone.
And nothing else.
The better question is: Why? Why is Microsoft so frustrated with its multi-billion dollar acquisition activity? The “conspiracy theorist” in me sometimes refers to the American monopoly on the mobile phone market that began after the “death” of Nokia. Was this the end game? Target? The end of European domination of the mobile phone market?
Since no mistake was made, at the time of Elop’s infamous memo “Burning Platform”, Nokia was still undisputedly the biggest. That note was the beginning of the end. This was followed by a long series of bizarre decisions and unprecedented product delays.
And when a product (Lumia Windows Phone) took off with a market share of over 13% in some markets, strange new decisions were made that quickly drove this hard-to-find growth to its head. As if it was meant to be.
I still don’t have another word: weird.
Fortunately, I’m also thinking of Hanlon (or Napoleon’s) famous phrase:
“Never ascribe to hate what stupidity adequately explains.”
These words make my inner Thierry sleep again.