Microsoft looks to win back consumers with its vision for 'Modern Life Services'

Microsoft's tryst with consumers hasn't been the most rewarding lately. Between the slow death of Windows 10 Mobile/Windows Phone, killing of Groove Music service (and the Zune before it), axing the Microsoft Band, and the occasional Windows 10 hiccups, Microsoft has been signaling its intentions to remain loyal to its enterprise customers even if it meant showing disdain to consumers (save for the Xbox segment, of course). That might change soon, though, with the new approach the Redmond giant intends to take in the days to come. At the Inspire partner show this week in Las Vegas, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Modern Life and Devices, Yusuf Mehdi, outlined the company's vision for 'Modern Life Services' with the aim of winning back consumers.

Attendees who have been a part of the Inspire partner show say that Mehdi did acknowledge that "in the last couple of years, we've lost a little of that magic with consumers... we begin the journey to win back consumers with our vision." Mehdi said that Microsoft will be leveraging its strengths in cloud and enterprise and use them to propel its vision. The idea is to make productivity 'more sexy' by giving users back time to help focus on what matters most. 

Modern Life Services will include apps and services — existent and upcoming — that will cater to professional consumers across Windows, Android, and iOS. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley cites the example of the 'Your Phone' app that was demonstrated during Build 2018 as a prime example of such a service. With Your Phone, users can respond to text messages and drag and drop photos from their desktop without ever needing to touch their phone. Thus, the app can help improve productivity by not interrupting the existing workflow. Other such services such as Focused Inbox and @mentions in Outlook are also part of Modern Life Services. The pushing of the Surface lineup in to more affordable versions with the Surface Go is also aimed at winning back consumers according to Mehdi. 

As part of its consumer campaign, the Cortana-powered Johnson Controls GLAS smart thermostat will be available from Microsoft Stores from August 2018 and more such Cortana-powered devices can be expected in the days to come. However, it seems that Microsoft did not talk anything about 'Andromeda' dual-screen Surface Phone devices but Mary Jo's sources have hinted that Microsoft could be looking at a more PC-like form factor for any new mobile device it may launch in the future.

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