Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows Phone 8.1

Moneycontrol News 

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that the Windows Phone 8.1 will no longer receive any further updates or security checks from Microsoft, a possible sign that the tech giant's is giving up its struggle to take away a piece of the smartphone market from Apple and Android.

Though the mobiles running the OS will not be stopped, the users of the same should not be expecting any updates hereafter.

The move comes even as as Microsoft’s ill-fated partnership with Nokia is still fresh in public memory.

Windows Phone 8.1 made a debut on April 14, 2014 and was launched to give competition to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

Despite factors such as a visually radical tile-based operating system, Windows phone could never garner more than a single-digit share in crucial markets, which in turn greatly affected the app development base as they couldn't even garner enough market share to get developers interested.

The new operating system, Windows 10 Mobile, the successor to Windows Phone 8.1, is still kicking in

What does the move mean?

The decision could indicate Microsoft’s shifting of its dependence on Windows sale to a focus on apps and service. The pocket-sized Windows is intended to be more of an extension of the desktop PC experience.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella suggested earlier this year that the Microsoft still intends to make smartphones, ‘though they may not look like the ones we’re used to’.

Rumours are circulating that a big launch of Microsoft’s long-awaited Surface Phone is just around the corner, and is slated to be the tech behemoth’s next big smartphone project.