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Microsoft calls time on its mobile dream releasing 1,850 staff

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

May 25, 2016 | 2 min read

Microsoft has dealt a death blow to its ill-fated mobile wing leaving in the wind 1,850 jobs.

WP7

The company announced on Wednesday that the remnants of the workforce at the mobile department purchased from Nokia will be let go (1,350), with an additional 500 cuts occurring elsewhere.

Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and devices group said it was an “incredibly difficult” decision but the company had “to be more focused in our phone hardware efforts”.

The 2014 purchase of Nokia’s mobile department brought 25,000 staff under Microsoft’s remit, with the fair share of these staff now laid off as the mobile business performed below expectations.

One of the major issues with the devices was the use of a Microsoft OS, which made for a poorly populated app store with developers more focused on creating for mass market platforms like iOS and Android.

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