Interesting thread, but indeed, it's circa 2016 and the analysis is not 100% correct. Satya Nadella, not Nutella (I believe that's a yummy spread) never said he was against the Windows phone. What he disapproved of was the M/A of Nokia, as that was not the direction he envisioned and quickly he disbanded Nokia. However, these things for a super large corporation never happen over night, it sadly takes time.
Microsoft currently knows that they can't compete with Apple OR Android variants in the smart phone field, especially when it comes to consumers. They have to find their own "niche" and that will be in the business or enterprise segment. Panos Panay and his engineering team which heads Surface have been working on Surface devices. Surface in itself is not designed to compete or be a #1 leader. What it is designed is to show the OEM's that they can indeed make an excellent device, PC, tablet, Surface Studio, phone, that excels - a reference device to emulate, like Nvidia does with their GPU's that OEM's tweak and enhance. Like Google does with their Pixel phone that others emulate.
Through this engineering design that trickles down to us, we as consumers will hopefully benefit from a consumer oriented phone. Let's face it, Continuum - the concept is hardly viewed by the average consumer as "I got to have". They got to have - "Retina Vision" OR "30 Megapixel camera", Apps (of which the majority are junk, but sounds nice), etc.
I agree it is sad because the Windows Phone hardware and software is definitely excellent. The apps are what badly hurt Windows phone and the carriers who when you would go in to their store, as I experienced time in and time again over several years, would take you to a Samsung or Apple phone cause their pocket book was being personally "enhanced". Even sadder, they would not push out the updates to the phones, blaming Microsoft not having the update approved. Verizon, the most notorious, even today has not pushed out updates to many Windows phones. Users in the know had to perform all sort of gyrations to get the update. Many of the updates were features and other security update. Apple was smart and lucky to have AT&T while it was going through a change from Cingular, accept their terms to allow ONLY Apple to push out the updates. That helped Apple severely in keeping their phone updated - remember the antenna/bar issue? Had updates not been pushed out, that would have hurt them badly at the time.
Microsoft sadly made several mistakes, no doubt about it and it has hurt them. The ability now to easily port over X86 software that will/could help and encourage devs to write more apps for Windows mobile. No matter what, the market is super saturated with phones and even Apple will need to find a new "Phone" to market cause at this point they are all pretty much alike and have reached their pinnacle for the most part.
That is why Microsoft is taking their time to find that best niche to go after and it's Enterprise. If they delay the Surface Phone it might be to ensure they do it right. the 950XL and the HP Elite can hold those on that love the flagship phone.
I doubt I would go Apple and if forced, would go pure Android, but no yet. The Surface Phone when it comes out, just like the Surface devices, will be pricy and consumers are not going to flock to buy it like consumers who flock to Apple at $850 for a phone every year.
Keep the faith, but don't expect bargains from Microsoft. Maybe other OEM's will come out with lower priced phones and rest assured, the carriers won't push them, they will continue to push Samsung and Apple, so the consumers think these are the best phones on the planet.