Before the bumbling clown that is Windows Phone 7, there was Windows Mobile, a platform fondly recalled by nerds the world over.
Well, the final nail is about to be driven into the coffin, as Microsoft has been firing out emails explaining that the Windows Mobile Marketplace will close its doors for business on May 9.
The Windows Mobile Marketplace has been hobbling along since July 2011, when Microsoft put its foot down and officially stopped accepting new app submissions and updates.
Amusingly, last May, we heard that the supposedly-defunct Windows Mobile was still outselling the spanking new Windows Phone 7, with two million Q1 2011 sales for the former and just 1.2 million for the latter. Oops!
Windows Mobile was backed by some fantastic hardware, perhaps most notably the HTC HD2, which some diehards still use to this day. Indeed, our resident German-Irish maniac, Jan, once screamed: “I think by law every citizen should have one of these. Excellent phone even if you don't want to tinker with it.”
Of course, if you want to drag your HTC HD2 kicking and screaming into the present, you can always have it dual-boot Android and Windows Phone 7.
Anyways, RIP Windows Mobile. You did good.
