It didn&#x27;t help much far. I remember being in complete awe when you could run Windows Phone 7 demo apps on Microsoft&#x27;s tutorial pages by virtue of Silverlight. Developer tools have indeed never been the problem.<p>It&#x27;s the endless restarts (WM6 -&gt; WP7 -&gt; WP8, and to some extend WM10), lack of Microsoft&#x27;s engagement (why not launch a Surface Phone and be done with it), the lack of good hardware, and simply the lack of developers.<p>At this point, I do not see much of a future for Windows Phone&#x2F;Mobile. It will probably continue to exist as one of their &#x27;hobby projects&#x27;. But Satya Nadella realized (correctly) that much more can be gained by serving the market. Now Microsoft&#x27;s own applications are better on iOS and Android than Windows Mobile.