There was a point where I saw a decent amount of buzz, but I also live in an area that had one of the bigger "Microsoft Stores." That said there was a point Microsoft more or less lost the plot on Windows phone, it was a few things that added up to them giving up IMO:
- Being unable to negotiate with companies like Snap to bring apps to the platform. Often this was because of Microsoft's level of sandboxing which prevented certain types of low level access.
- Other app developers never bothering to even try, despite the perfectly servicable APIs provided and ability to write in multiple languages.
- Google was purposefully obstructive with Youtube's APIs IIRC, which eventually made the Youtube app useless.
I bring up that last point, because it seems like the closer to competitive WP -got-, the more google turned the screws. Thinking very specifically about WP10 here, which really was a Swan Song for the platform; using a Widi receiver to get an ad-hoc windows desktop was pretty freaking cool in 2016.
- Being unable to negotiate with companies like Snap to bring apps to the platform. Often this was because of Microsoft's level of sandboxing which prevented certain types of low level access.
- Other app developers never bothering to even try, despite the perfectly servicable APIs provided and ability to write in multiple languages.
- Google was purposefully obstructive with Youtube's APIs IIRC, which eventually made the Youtube app useless.
I bring up that last point, because it seems like the closer to competitive WP -got-, the more google turned the screws. Thinking very specifically about WP10 here, which really was a Swan Song for the platform; using a Widi receiver to get an ad-hoc windows desktop was pretty freaking cool in 2016.