Nokia "winding down" HERE Maps development for Windows Phone, turning attention to Android and Apple

Nokia has admitted it's "winding down" development of HERE Maps for Windows Phone and diverting resources to Android and iOS apps.

The warning - aimed directly at Microsoft - comes from Senior Vice President in Nokia's HERE Division, Sean Fernback, in an interview with TheNextWeb.

HERE Maps and HERE Drive have been flagship apps on Windows Phone since it was launched. They were originally Nokia WP exclusives, but have now moved to other Windows phones and also to Samsung Galaxy Android devices.

Nokia has said it will soon be releasing mapping apps for other Android devices as well as Apple's iOS.

The Mapping Division was left under Nokia control after Microsoft bought the Finnish company's mobile phone division.

“It was always the ambition to be on Android, we just took a decision at the beginning of the year to accelerate the program,” explained Fernback, in a frank opening to our interview. “And also to ensure when we talk about apps, we’re serving both common platforms, which is, of course, Android and iOS.”

“As a result of the transaction, we’re having to wind down our Windows Phone app development and shift it over towards Android and iOS,” explains Fernback. 

Wait… so does this mean that Windows Phone is being given the elbow now that the Microsoft/Nokia partnership has come to an end? HERE maps wasn’t part of the deal, after all.

Fernback did stress that support for Windows Phone isn’t being phased out completely, not at the moment at least. It’s just limiting the resources it throws at the platform, including time and money spent developing for it. “It’s a dialogue we’re having [with Microsoft], so we will see where it takes us,” he continues.

(Source: TNW.)