Microsoft has announced that the company is going to stop developing future Android smartphones, except for those that are already available on the market. Nokia X smartphones will become an important part of Lumia range, running the Windows Phone OS instead, although Android handsets will still be supported.
The move came as Microsoft announced about 18,000 job cuts across the company’s workforce. According to Microsoft’s executive in charge with mobile devices Stephen Elop, Microsoft plans to increase Windows Phone OS popularity by targeting the cheaper smartphone segments that are also the fastest-growing at this time. Beyond the portfolio they have already planned, Microsoft intends to deliver additional low-cost Lumia mobile devices by interchanging Nokia X designs to new Windows Phone devices.
Ben Wood of CCS Insight stated that the move was intended to increase sales of Microsoft’s Lumia range, as the decision has been made before Microsoft’s takeover of Nokia. It seems like everyone scratched their heads prior to the initial release of Android-powered Nokia smartphones in February, as Wood has declared for BBC. Mr. Wood has said that phasing out Android devices was more like a strategic move meant to take the developments the company has made on the hardware to drive Lumia price to lower levels.