There’s been a lot of talk concerning what Microsoft is going to do with its encumbered phone business following the huge layoffs last week.  And now on the back of the news that Microsoft is releasing a new build of Windows Phone, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has come out to state his commitment to the future of the smartphone.

Nadella had earlier stated that Windows Phone was by no means dead, but a change in strategy was in the works. This consisted of concentrating on premium Lumia devices, phones for business and also lower-end devices.

He outlined this strategy in a backstage interview at the Worldwide Partner Conference with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley. Following some talk about Microsoft’s broad vision Foley asked Nadella if the end is nigh for Windows Phone, to which Nadella responded with a resounding no.

“Quite frankly I think it’s sort of about the lens through which you view what’s happening,” Nadella said, adding, “I view the mobile opportunity, even today in its broadest sense, and in the future, as being richer.”

He went on to state that it is the Windows service that is the primary objective, not selling phones. “Last week’s announcement was not about any change to our vision and strategy, but for sure it was a change to our operating approach,” he explained, “I’m going to focus on a few phones that actually grab share that, in fact, showcase our uniqueness.”

This uniqueness, as an example, will include having a smartphone running universal apps with Continuum. Effectively this makes your phone a desktop, and “that’s not something any other phone operating system or device can do,” Nadella said.

As to whom will build the devices, Nadella said that if no OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) take it up then Microsoft will build its own Windows Phones. Meanwhile developers will keep building phone apps because Windows 10 UAP apps will run across all devices, from smartphone to tablet to Xbox to HoloLens.

Nadella doesn’t want to make some of the same mistakes Microsoft made in the past. While he acknowledges that the six inch phone is the high-volume device, it would be “madness” to think it will always be this way.

Nadella makes plenty of cogent remarks during the interview, which you can read in full here.

Photo credit: Heisenberg Media via Flickr