Windows Phone was never on the table for Microsoft’s new Surface Duo smartphone

Those dual-screened experiences Panay describes are just as reliant on the software working well as they are on the two screens existing side by side. And that's where Android comes in. At some point Microsoft determined that if you can't beat them, you need to join them and try your darnedest to differentiate. It will attempt to make Microsoft apps the best Microsoft apps you can get on an Android device. When I ask him if he ever considered reviving a Windows mobile OS, Panay says no. Twice. And he says it firmly. "At the end of the day, where the applications sit today, the opportunity that people have already leaned into, that developers have already taken advantage of-it's right there. And there's a reality to that. To ignore that would be silly." Of course they never considered using Windows for a mobile phone. That ship has sailed, crashed, and sunk, and the market just isn't open to any new entrants, as the lack of response to this change.org petition illustrates.