Windows Phone is as good as dead

With Wednesday's layoffs, Microsoft, saddled with the losing mobile hand that is Windows Phone, has essentially folded. The bulk of the 7,800 people let go are from the company's phone division, a tacit admission that its big plans for Windows Phone haven't exactly worked out.

The company's not leaving the casino, though: Windows Phone, the platform, isn't going anywhere, even as Microsoft greatly scales back its hardware ambitions. The company has labored for years to create both a full-featured mobile operating system as well as an ecosystem of devices — PC, phone, tablet and more — that all use the same code base. It would be silly to just abandon its mobile platform, especially as people spend more and more of their time on smartphones. Read more...