Well, here’s an unsurprising surprise. Microsoft’s big boss, Satya Nadella has announced that Nokia’s Android-based X range will ditch Android as its OS in favour of Windows. This means that the Nokia X2 will be the last Android phone the company will (likely ever) offer.
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Microsoft, in its bid to “evolve”, has lined up some 18 000 job cuts in the coming months, with more than a third of those coming from the newly integrated Nokia Devices and Services division. Another hammer blow to the once lucrative company is the destruction of the budget Nokia X Android range. Instead of bridging the Asha-Lumia divide, it will be integrated into the Lumia suite of handsets, sans Android.
“We plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows,” notes Nadella. “This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.”
Although a logical shift at heart, some users will undoubtedly rue the changes rung. “Making these decisions to change are difficult, but necessary,” Nadella reassures staff, but why build an Android device in the first place?
Clearly not everything is rosy at Redmond, nor at Nokia. The handset manufacturer’s sales figures are down 23% quarter-on-quarter, and following the job cuts and device range dilution, this figure could get much worse.
Grab a Nokia X phone now before they’re gone, baby gone forever.
