Microsoft Ditches Nokia Staff and Android Phones

As part of a major new restructuring strategy, Microsoft announced it will shed 12,500 jobs from its recently acquired Nokia Devices and Services division and scrap its poorly-received X line of Android smartphones.

The low-cost X handsets, which were only unveiled in the first quarter of the year, were primarily aimed at developing markets. They came fitted with a heavily modified version of Android that was designed to give users access to the operating system’s huge selection of apps, while retaining the general feel of the Windows mobile OS.

Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella said he now plans to focus his firm’s efforts exclusively on Windows-based smartphones. Microsoft will also be pulling back its various Nokia lines, including its Asha and Series 40 ranges, while unifying them all under its Windows Phone operating system.

Microsoft further announced it was shuttering its Xbox Entertainment division as part of an overall plan to eliminate more than 18,000 jobs, the largest in the company’s history. The majority of the job cuts are expected to be completed by the end of the year, and fully completed by June 30, 2015.