Anyone who used Windows Mobile or PocketPCs knew this was never going to happen.

Windows phone wasn't the same

I had a Nokia Windows Phone and I still miss it. It's best feature (for me) was that it was fast. I hardly ever had to wait for it to catch up.

But that was of course running only the few apps available on the store. Any third-runner in a space is never going to get enough attention from 3rd parties to survive.

I had a few Windows Phones too. The thing I loved was the lack of hamburger menu: UX standards put controls at the _bottom_ of the screen, or on a pane accessible via swipe. It was all within thumb range. You never had to awkwardly reach to the other end of the display or use your other hand.

Part of that "speedy" feeling, I often describe as the UI feeling almost slippery. Like everything on the glass just slipped across your fingers. The keyboard was amazing, and so quick.

I thought moving to a 120hz display would get that feeling back, but it still doesn't have the slippery feeling.

I was a huge Windows Phone advocate around this time, and indeed in many markets _outside_ the US it had periods of being the #2 behind Android. To my vague recollection maybe India, Mexico, and parts of Europe (where it was sometimes #2, and when not at least had a much stronger showing than in the US).

There was solid user research at the time indicating that it was both more popular with and had a lower learning curve for first-time smartphone buyers compared to iOS/Android at the time--but there were fewer and fewer of such first-timers by then.

IMO it's a great example of a better platform (in terms of UX and polish) losing to competitors/incumbents on things other than...for lack of a better word..."worthiness".

As @chiph said, being the third to launch is just a death knell for platforms. The network effects trending towards a duopoly are just so strong. I worked for an agency where clients did initially give us budget to build WP apps (and we had a ton of fun!), but if you make an 80/20 decision enough times, you end up supporting only the top 2.

I'm still dismayed at how Windows Phone fizzled the way it did, and I've been an Apple user for three decades now. The Metro UI was one of the more innovative UI approaches I've seen—from anyone, and definitely from Microsoft. I remember looking at the Zune and thinking, huh, this is not the "Windows attempt at an iPod" that I was expecting.

I probably wouldn't ever have bought one, but Windows Phone was not, for once, a mere iOS clone, and I respect that.

Don't worry. Just like Edge, Windows phones can be based on Android. Looking at Wine, WSL and WSA, I don't think Microsoft will sleep on cell phone market for long.

Windows Phone is now called Windows 11. The battle is not lost.