Windows Lumia handsets - End of the line
Microsoft has officially announced that they will be pulling the plug on their Windows Lumia department and so this marks the end of the smartphones. Although many of us did not look at these as the standard replacement for our personal smartphone. Many did see it as a replacement to the work device we also have with some seeing it replace their Blackberry devices.
Like Blackberry, it looks like another brand name will be sinking off the shores of Smartphone bay.
The news was reported on Twitter by ZDNet reporter Mary Jo Foley, who said that a senior Microsoft executive had told her there was almost no money left in the phone business.
Respected Microsoft commentator Paul Thurrott verified Foley’s report with an announcement that the winding-down of the company’s phone business is, “expected to be completed by the end of the current fiscal year”.
This would mean that Microsoft would halt its operations on all Lumia handsets by the end of June 2017.
Microsoft revealed its latest financial results earlier this week, with company CFO Amy Hood mentioning "negligible revenue from phones."
The reality was even more grim, as phone sales fell $730 million for the current quarter from the same period last year.The announcement may not be too surprising, given the waning power of Windows Phone devices around the world.
This is all coinciding with the development with Nokia and the handing over of certain smartphone licences and rights. yes, this is a sad day for Windows, but then it is also a great time for Nokia. Lets not all forget that Windows was able to benefit from Nokia's demise a few years back when Nokia disappeared out of the smartphone market.
What impact does this have on the smartphone industry?
As Windows Phones only make up just 0.3 percent of all smartphones sold across the world, according to recent Gartner figures, it means there will be little impact.
We all could have predicted this from the tens of thousands of Windows Employees that were laid off in July 2015. All from their Windows Phone workforce.
We all could have predicted this from the tens of thousands of Windows Employees that were laid off in July 2015. All from their Windows Phone workforce.
Microsoft also effectively wrote off $7.6 billion due to their 2013 takeover of Nokia, marking one of the company’s biggest ever low points. At the time, they thought that this sacrifice was worth it to get them into the smartphone industry. Previous attempts had always failed. Although the Lumia handsets did show a vast improvement in comparison to previous attempts, it still proved not enough to warrant keeping the division.
The company also recently downgraded work on its Windows 10 Mobile platform in favour of focusing on building other new hardware instead.
The news won’t affect Microsoft’s mobile software rollout, as the company recently revealed more details about the rollout of its most advanced mobile software.
The company finally began rolling out Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update earlier this week, marking the latest generation of its smartphone platform.
However, only a certain number of devices are able to download and install the software, including several Lumia smartphones such as the Lumia 640 and 640XL, Lumia 650, and Lumia 950 and 950 XL devices.
The mobile version of Windows 10 Creators Update is available to download now.
The download brings a number of mobile-targeted features, including better ebook support f, a new “Snooze” function for Microsoft Edge tabs, and a smoother way to many Wi-Fi connections on your device.
There’s also support for full-colour, updated emojis, better Bluetooth connectivity, and improvements to Cortana that allow you to use your voice to control playback and volume of your music.
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