(Microsoft Photo)

A Microsoft executive confirmed on Twitter over the weekend something we already knew but hadn’t been said officially: Building new features and devices under the Windows Phone and Windows Mobile platform are not a focus for the company.

In a series of Tweets, Joe Belfiore, Microsoft corporate vice president of Windows 10, said that while the company will continue to provide security updates and bug fixes for the operating system and support enterprises that have deployed Windows Phones for their employees, new hardware and features are not a priority.

Belfiore’s comments are another sign of the decline of the Windows mobile operating system in its current form. They follow a decision by Microsoft over the summer to end support for Windows Phone 8.1, the final operating system tied to the Windows Phone.

Belfiore continued, saying one of the chief problems for Microsoft’s mobile operating system was the lack of apps compared to iOS and Android. It wasn’t for lack of effort, as Microsoft tried a number of strategies to entice developers to build on their platform.

Microsoft has been backing away from its mobile operating system and hardware during Satya Nadella’s term as CEO. The company has switched its mobile focus to emphasize building some of its flagship products, like Office 365, for Android devices and iPhones.

The latest example of Microsoft’s new mobile strategy came just last week when the company announced that Microsoft Edge, the default Windows 10 browser, is on the way to iPhones and Android devices. The move will fulfill a longstanding request from Windows users who want to bridge the experience between their smartphones and computers.

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