Huawei Will No Longer Make Devices Running Windows Phone

Huawei is no longer manufacturing Windows Phones, at least not for the time being.

This according to Richard Yu, the head of Huawei's consumer business group, as he revealed to the Wall Street Journal in an interview, revealed in a report published yesterday.

In the interview, Yu revealed Huawei has been losing money for quite some time trying to push Windows Phone devices.

Related: IDC: Top 4 Smartphone Operating Systems In Q2

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"We have tried using the Windows Phone OS, but it has been difficult to persuade consumers to buy a Windows phone," Yu told the Wall Street Journal. "It wasn't profitable for us. We were losing money for two years on those phones. So for now we've decided to put any releases of new Windows phones on hold."

Huawei still makes smartphones running on Android, but he did not speak glowingly of the Google operating system either saying it's "the only option" for the company who he feels "have no choice" at this point.

Windows Phone is the third largest operating system in the world in terms of market share, with 7.4 million smartphones being sold in the second quarter of this year, good for a market share of 2.5 percent, according to IDC.

These numbers are down from last year's numbers when 8.2 million Windows Phone devices were sold, for a market share of 3.4 percent.

"Windows mobile is something that has been unsuccessful," said Stephen Monteros, vice president of business development and strategic initiatives at SIGMAnet, an Ontario, Calif.-based solution provider and Microsoft partner. "The phone platform is not something we spend a lot of time on and for me, [Huawei] views it the same way we do. We don't consider it a leader, and they'll make their bets on Android."

Monteros sees the software and user interface of Windows Phone being quiet popular, but it's the app ecosystem that holds the platform back. He says that with Microsoft losing a vendor of Windows Phone devices gives developers even more of a reason to push away from the platform.

"I think it's a big blow to Windows Phone, because now they will lose developers," he said. "With a much smaller market, you won't have a lot of developers working on this platform. The ecosystem drives adoption. Obviously this is definitely not good news for Microsoft. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other vendors drop out."

The last Windows Phone device released by Huawei was the Ascend W2 in November, 2013. That could be the last one we'll see.

Windows Phone 9, the newest version of Microsoft's mobile operating system, is expected to be released in just over a month on September 30.

Huawei confirmed Yu's statements in the Wall Street Journal report, but had no further comment on the matter.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined comment on the matter.

PUBLISHED AUG. 25, 2014