Just weeks after introducing a new line of Nokia X series smartphones running Google Android software, Microsoft has announced it’s pulling the plug on its Android products.

Select members of the Nokia X family will be updated to run Windows Phone software instead.

nokia x2_00

The announcement comes amidst news that Microsoft plans to eliminate up to 18 thousand jobs as part of a reorganization process.

The move makes sense: Nokia started working on its Android devices before Microsoft had finished taking over the Finnish phone maker. But now that Windows Phone can run on phones with entry-level specs, there’s not much reason for the company to continue offering devices that run both its own software and a competing platform.

Microsoft will continue to support existing Nokia X customers for a while, but in the future all low-cost smartphones will be part of the Nokia Lumia family of Windows Phone products.

Update: It looks like Microsoft will be killing off the Nokia Asha line of feature phones as well.

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12 replies on “Nokia X Android devices to become Windows Phones”

  1. what’s the bloody point? they could’ve just purchased the manufacturing platforms of huawei or foxcon! wasted a goldmine of talent.

  2. As much as I actually like Windows Phone – this is clearly a mistake. They need to get a foot into the Android market just for basic cash-flow and Nokia has (…had) the talent so it should be easy for them.

    Windows Phone (even back in WP7 days, through to now) were always snappier and more efficient on low-end hardware than Android which requires a ridiculous amount of resources to get a passable experience. Increasingly powerful low-end hardware has nothing to do with ditching Android because WP always had Android beat on that front anyway. I know this truth because I’ve never had a phone more than $250 with the usually cheaper Windows Phone outperforming the more expensive Android phones. *Decent* cheap (unlocked/no contract) Android phones are only just starting to emerge this year.

    1. Because financial analysts are always looking at the short-term bottom line, and shedding lots of jobs is one of the best ways to reduce short-term costs.

      I used to work for a major computer company and our stock price always went up when we announced job cuts. It felt like rubbing salt in the wound, at times.

    2. Investors were definitely looking for layoffs after the Nokia acquisition and I guess they got it. I read that the majority of the layoffs are the former Nokia employees.

  3. That’s not how I read the email. I thought he was talking about X phones that have yet to be released, being transitioned from AOSP X phones to WP Lumias, not updating phones in the field.

  4. If MS were smart, they would unlock the bootloader and transition their support to Cyanogen Mod.

    1. That wouldn’t be smart at all, not for them, anyway. They’re trying to get people away from using Android devices, not giving their customers a excuse to continue using them.

  5. And you’d think they would actually like to sell phones to someone.

    1. No. It’s not about selling phones. It’s about foisting Windows Phone onto a market that has no interest in it, at any cost.

      1. MS has to try, otherwise they’re ceding total control of the mobile market to Apple and Google.

Comments are closed.