Windows 10 Mobile Market - Hey Microsoft - give the Insiders a new device for free.

The current market state for Windows Phone is pretty dismal.
Gartner reported that Windows Phone has a 0.7% Worldwide market share as of Q1 2016 - selling only 2.4M devices.  

On May 16th, AdDuplex posted their monthly usage statistics for Windows Mobile and the numbers show how little Windows 10 is moving the needle. AdDuplex stated that only 10.9% of all Windows Mobile devices are running Windows 10 Mobile.  

Of those running Windows 10 Mobile - nearly 78% performed an upgrade to a legacy device and only 22% had purchased a "Windows 10" device - so a 550/650/950.  

 Similarly of all Windows 10 Mobile devices only 14.4% are running Insider Builds while the remaining 85% are running "Production".   

 Basically this means that the pool of Insiders is very small and that most are testing Windows 10 Mobile on legacy devices that don't support several key Windows 10 Mobile features and may not be supported past the Redstone 1 release.   

 MS also has the problem in that they are sitting on a huge inventory of Windows 10 Mobile devices that just aren't selling.  Satya Nadella actually called it out in MS's most recent quarterly call.   

 As Microsoft continues to move forward with Windows 10 Mobile, we know the focus will be more on Enterprise than consumer and so features like Windows Hello, Continuum, O365 support, etc will be paramount.   The contribution of Insiders is important as it gives real world feedback to the development teams and has been the driver for what gets fixed.

 If MS is serious about the continued support of Windows 10 Mobile then they need a pool of testers with devices that will support the features and capabilities of the future.  

 As an Insider who is utilizing a Lumia 735 as my test platform, I know that my contribution is limited due to the legacy hardware.  At the same time I am not going to go buy a 950 just for the sake of testing.   

 Here is my suggestion MS - send a voucher to every Windows 10 Mobile Fast Ring Insider for a 950 or 950XL and either a Display Dock or Wireless Continuum device. Insiders can use the voucher either online or at a local MS Store.  This will give your Insiders a fresh set of hardware to test the capabilities coming forward with Redstone 2.

 What do you have to loose MS - your sitting on a big inventory that you will have to write off - you have a small group of enthusiasts who are willing to install and test pre-production builds - and they need new devices to continue testing your most critical features going forward.

 So cut the Insiders a break and give them a 950.

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