I'm Quitting Windows Phone. Here's Why.

I have decided to sever my ties with Windows Phone.

I'm genuinely heartbroken over the decision. I'm a die-hard Windows geek, always have been. And I adore my Nokia Lumia 925 Windows Phone. In fact I've never owned a smartphone that wasn't a Windows Phone. But the decision is final. Why? Well the writing, as they say, is on the wall.

Here's what it looks like:

-- According to the IDC, Microsoft only claims 2.2 per cent of the entire smartphone market.

-- Microsoft's contract with Nokia, arguably the best cell phone Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) on planet Earth, is only for five years. It ends in 2016.

-- Nokia has already announced its intent to produce and distribute Android phones after their contract with Microsoft expires.

-- The Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL are big expensive devices designed to function more as portable desktops than plain old smartphones.

-- The success of the Surface Pro line of devices.

-- Chatter regarding a possible Surface Pro smartphone.

A phone that docks for PC-style interaction isn't intended for the average smartphone owner. With the advent of Continuum, Microsoft is again targeting its enterprise market, one that is paying closer attention since the release of the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book earlier this year.

It is also making Microsoft seem less like an innovator and more like a one-trick pony.

For me, the combination of Microsoft's mobile operating system and Nokia's hardware is unbeatable. It's everything I need my smartphone to be. But with the expiration of Microsoft's contract with Nokia, however, goes Nokia's hardware. And with Microsoft's insistence on making every device conveniently mimic a desktop computer goes the delusion that Windows 10 Mobile will be enough like Windows Phone 8.1 in its heyday to make it worth me waiting for.

I suspect Microsoft made a decision to cut smartphone losses ahead of the 950 series' release. My "wag-the-dog" sense tingles every time I read something that perpetuates the notion that Microsoft will continue to support status quo smartphone development. I don't plan to be one of the Windows Phone users wondering what to do after Microsoft's inevitable announcement that they will no longer support the smartphone OS as-is in favor of evolving technology commitments.

And I don't want to have to make phone calls on a PC. It's not who I am.

So I say farewell to my Windows Phone. It's been an enriching collaboration. And I wish Microsoft the greatest success in future technology endeavors, whatever those happen to be.
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