Microsoft to discontinue Nokia X line, layoff 18,000 employees

Nokia X

Nokia X was Microsoft’s idea at a slight re-branding, to bring the Nokia phone experience to users who are too attached to Android to give up on it. It was basically a Lumia running Android, with slight design changes.

As we all know, the Nokia X was a sales failure, getting greeted grimly by us Android fans, it seemed an un-finished product, not quite Android and not quite WP, it was a crossbreed no-one wanted to touch.

Microsoft half-admitted their mistake by launching the Nokia X2 only four months afterwards, but it was too little too late, and it seems now even MS realized this product line is going nowhere.

In an email sent to all the employees, he said they will be shifting the Nokia X design to the Lumia line, which basically means they’ll be re-branding it as a Windows Phone. Here’s the quote:

In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.

But, as far as MS employees are concerned, the important part of the email was MS’s intention of laying off 18,000 employees by the end of the year, with the first batch firing 13,000. That’s a total of 40% of Nokia’s total work force, and it would be a tough hit.

For the full letter visit Microsoft’s official website.