Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and Pocket PCs.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pocket PC 2000. It was renamed "Windows Mobile" in 2003, at which point it came in several versions (similar to the desktop versions of Windows) and was aimed at business and enterprise consumers. When initially released in the mid-2000s, it was to be the portable equivalent of what Windows desktop OS was: a major force in the then-emerging mobile/portable areas. But its popularity—always at the low end of the market—never equalled (let alone surpassed) that of the two major mobile OSs (iOS and Android), and faded rapidly in the following years. By February 2010, facing competition primarily from rival mobile OSs, Microsoft announced Windows Phone to supersede Windows Mobile. As a result, Windows Mobile has been deprecated. Windows Phone is incompatible with Windows Mobile devices and software. The last version of Windows Mobile, released after the announcement of Windows Phone, was 6.5.5. After this, Microsoft ceased development on Windows Mobile in order to concentrate on Windows Phone.