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Microsoft: It's time to move on from Windows Mobile

On May 9, Microsoft will officially kill off the Marketplace app service for its last-gen Windows Mobile operating system.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Expertise Content strategy, team leadership, audience engagement, iPhone, Samsung, Android, iOS, tips and FAQs.
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Jessica Dolcourt
Windows Marketplace for Mobile, in its last update. Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

There comes a point in every corporation's life when it's time to usher on steadfast loyalists into the brave new world of next-generation products. For Microsoft and Windows Mobile, that time is now.

On May 9, Microsoft will be closing down, boarding up, and never looking back on its Windows Marketplace for Mobile, an app store it launched in 2009 for Windows Mobile 6.5, the last iteration of its Windows Mobile OS.

The message to hangers-on is clear: Windows Phone Marketplace and the Windows Phone OS overhaul are Microsoft's OS future now--and there's no going back.

Of course, if you count yourself a Windows Mobile owner, that doesn't mean that you can't continue to use the apps you already have, and nobody will stop you from sideloading apps through third-party sites (like CNET's Download.com, to shamelessly name just one.)

So the bottom line is: if you're using a Windows Mobile 6.X phone, now's the time to back up your apps and other data offline. If you accidentally delete an app, or if your phone gets wiped, you'll have little recourse for recovering what you've lost.

Microsoft's cold shoulder to Windows Mobile should come as no surprise. Ever since launching Windows Phone 7, the company has transitioned away from Windows Mobile and instead backed the new OS as its only chance for future mobile success.

(Via TechCrunch)

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