Windows Phone's gutting continues as Microsoft kills what's left of Nokia

From PC World: Down, but not out: Microsoft is laying off another 1,850 staff from its smartphone hardware business, but says it isn’t leaving the market completely.

What’s left of the old Nokia business in Finland will be hardest hit by the latest round of lay-offs, with up to 1,350 jobs to go. Microsoft will cut up to 500 more globally, it said Wednesday.

Since it bought Nokia’s mobile phone activities in 2013, Microsoft has been managing a business in decline. The majority of the staff it acquired from Nokia are gone, and the company’s mobile phone market share has stagnated.

Last week, the company sold off its feature-phone business, and hinted that while it would continue to update software for its Lumia smartphones, it would develop no new Lumia hardware. But no new Lumia hardware doesn’t necessarily mean no new smartphones.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company will “continue to innovate across devices,” an ambiguous phrase that could mean more hardware is on the way. The company is rumored to be working on a Surface Phone, a companion to its series of Surface tablets that could arrive next year.

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