Microsoft to kill Nokia X and S40 lineup will focus on Windows Phone

Microsoft is getting ready to launch the Nokia X successor in India and the timing couldn’t have been worse. Just yesterday, the company announced that it is wrapping up the Android operations and will shift select X-series product designs to Lumia. The transition is said to be immediate, removing any possibility of another Nokia X-series Android smartphone. The company has already imported over 25,000 units of the X2 in the country, suggesting at an impending release.

The operating system that runs the phones was to blend the core technology found in Google's Android system with services and designs found in Microsoft's own Windows Phone system. Nokia looked to Android as a way to sell phones with locally tailored apps unavailable on Windows.

But Microsoft completed its deal to buy Nokia's phone business in April, and Nokia X is gone less than three months later.

"Nokia tried to bring the best of both worlds on this device, but once you play around with it, this phone kind of falls short of how fantastic it could be," said Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst who follows phones.

According to The Verge, Microsoft devices head Mary Jo Harlow has confirmed that Microsoft will stop supporting and developing Nokia Asha and Nokia Series 40 devices over the next 18 months and will focus solely on developing Lumia Windows Phone devices at all pricing levels, as well as a new focus on high-end Lumia flagships in the next few months.

"This means there will be no new features or updates to services on any mobile phones platform as a result of these plans," says Jo Harlow, who heads up the phone business under Microsoft devices.

According to the report, employees working on the Nokia Asha and S40 feature phones look to be among the layoff casualties, as well, as will those involved with Nokia's MixRadio offering, which may possibly be spun off as a third-party service.

The MixRadio decision isn't too surprising given Microsoft has a substantial investment in its own music service, Xbox Music.