Some of the major apps available on Windows Phone / Windows 10 Mobile are slowly edging towards death as the platform market share keeps shrinking.
Today, Hike announced that they are stopping any future updates for their app on the platform, though users will be able to use it but no new features will be rolled out. Apart from Windows Phone, they are also stopping development for S40, S60, Blackberry, BB10 platforms.
In the official announcement they said :
As we continue to simplify how people connect and interact with content and services on mobile, we need to make sure we focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of India uses. This enables us to address their needs faster and better. To that extent, you’ve seen us double down on our efforts on Android and iOS, which make up more than 98% of the smartphone market share in India.
In line with this goal, we’ve made a tough decision to pause new development and hence further updates for Windows Phone (WP) platform starting today. If you are an existing Hike user on Windows Phone, you can still continue messaging your friends as before, but we won’t be shipping any new features on this platform.
In recent days, Microsoft had made it clear that its planning to bring full Windows 10 support on Cellular form factor, and this has sent out clear signal that if developers want to develop an app, its going to be just for Windows 10 with no differentiation between PC, Tablet and Mobile.
Hike caters over a 100 Million people which is remarkable goal reached within 4 years. The recent updates included “Stories” and a brand new Hike camera experience.
Thanks Abhinav!
I wish that sites like this would stop spreading the mis-information that Windows Phone / mobile market share is shrinking. It is exactly this type of poor journalism which can result in some developers believing that the platform is in decline, with Hike apparently part of that group (not sure what their app/business does anyway). The data they are referring to only reflects device sales, which does not represent the share of the user base (the only metric that matters, unless you are a device manufacturer), which has been relatively flat around 2-3% for several years. MS has reduced their hardware offerings, deciding instead to focus on the OS itself (where their core strengths are), and leave the hardware side to manufacturers, which are better suited for the production and marketing of their devices. MS may still produce the occasional flagship (e.g. Surface Phone), which will be intended to demonstrate the advanced capabilities of the OS, and for the OEMs to emulate. We are currently in a transition period while MS ramps down and other OEMs ramp up, device sales should be expected to taper during such a period.
You are absolutely correct. This types of journalists are like anti Microsoft or Windows platform. Bloody idiots are.