Microsoft initially planned to end support for all of its business apps on Windows Phone including Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, and Yammer this month but the company appears to have changed its plans.
Microsoft was supposed to drop support for Microsoft Team and Skype for Business on Windows Phone by end of May, but it appears that the support period has been extended as some enterprise apps for Windows Phones will continue to work beyond this month.
While we don’t know why Microsoft has decided to push back the retirement dates, but it’s likely that this is the result of feedback received from customers using Windows Phones.
It is worth noting that Microsoft Teams will be pulled from the Microsoft Store on July 20 but it will continue to function until October 20. While on the other hand, Microsoft is planning to remove Skype for Business from the store in December 2019 and August 2018 for Windows Phone 8.1.
Both apps were originally scheduled to get discontinued this month. However, Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business apps will live for a little bit longer.
“Although Microsoft continues to support Windows 10 Mobile, we are not focused on building new features for the system. We will continue to invest in Microsoft Teams mobile apps for iOS and Android and in desktop apps for Windows and Mac,” Microsoft said in a blog post.
As Windows 10 Mobile operating system is still quite popular in the enterprise segment, Microsoft will remain committed to Skype Business for Windows 10 Mobile until late 2019. Windows 10 Mobile operating system itself is projected to reach the end of support in late-2019.
“Beginning in December 2019, Skype for Business on Windows 10 Mobile, will no longer be available for download,” the company explains.
Microsoft last year announced that Windows 10 Mobile operating system is no longer developed and the platform will stop receiving the security update by end of 2019. While the company has discontinued the mobile platform, Microsoft is still working on a mobile-type device called Andromeda which could be unveiled later this year.
