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Nokia’s great Android experiment with the X lineup of phones always seemed like a waste of time, and Microsoft has decided it’s an experiment that cannot go on any longer. Microsoft announced today that it will be cutting 18,000 jobs in the coming months – 12,500 of those will be of former Nokia employees, and the Nokia X products will cease to exist and become “Lumia products running Windows.”
The first Nokia X handset was launched in February this year, and Nokia managed to launch the second-generation X2 within months of launching the original. However, now that Nokia’s devices business is a part of Microsoft, the Redmond giant has decided to axe the Nokia X line and instead focus all its efforts on Windows Phone.
“In addition to the portfolio already planned, we plan to deliver additional lower-cost Lumia devices by shifting select future Nokia X designs and products to Windows Phone devices,” said Stephen Elop, Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Devices & Services. “We expect to make this shift immediately while continuing to sell and support existing Nokia X products.”
The announcement doesn’t come as a surprise, since it would never make sense for Microsoft to have Android devices in a strategy that is based around Windows and Microsoft services. It’s too bad Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia didn’t happen earlier than it did – if it had, the Nokia X lineup would never have made it to market, which would have been the best scenario considering the abysmal user experience all the X phones have offered.
[Via TechCrunch]
