New Delhi:
Mobile chat service provider WhatsApp has decided to end its services for the BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Phone devices.
( Whatsapp, Android, Apple, BB10, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian 40, Symbian 60, Windows Phone 7.1)
The decision has come in the wake of minimal market share of these operating systems. 99 per cent of the current market of smartphones is equipped by Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 and above devices.
The information was revealed by WhatsApp in a blog post published a few days ago. The Facebook owned messaging company revealed that they will be withdrawing support for BlackBerry devices (BB10 included), Symbian 40, Symbian 60, Android 2.1 and 2.2 devices and Windows Phone 7.1 sometime this year.
They said that the decision was “not an easy one to make” and that the market has evolved. While other platforms will suffer, there is some respite for BB10 users as their devices are capable of running Android apps within the OS.
“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.”, say WhatsApp. Finally, they add that, “This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp.”
