14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft recently announced that it would retire the Windows Live Messenger application on March 15, but according to some new reports, the iOS application has already been discontinued.
It appears that Microsoft’s recent announcement only concerned the Windows platform, as the iOS application is no longer available in the App Store, Neowin.net writes.
The only WLM app currently up for grabs for iPhone and iPad owners is the one belonging to Shanghai MSN Network, as China is the only country in the world that would stick with MSN due to a local Microsoft joint venture.
Retiring Windows Live Messenger is part of a more ambitious project to move all users to Skype and its built-in Messenger feature, as the Redmond-based technology titan intends to focus a bit more on its VoIP platform.
The transition was scheduled to begin in early 2013, but Microsoft confirmed in some emails sent to users that March 15 is the date when WLM would be officially discontinued on Windows.
The Messenger service, on the other hand, will live on, so in case you’re using a third-party client to connect to the network, you can still chat with your contacts. The same happens with iOS platforms too, as there are plenty of alternatives available in the App Store right now that could replace the official WLM client.
But even if Microsoft hopes to see all users embracing Skype, the transition is currently a pain in the neck, plenty of users have reported, mostly due to bugs that completely remove the contacts lists when uninstalling Windows Live Messenger.
Microsoft is already investigating the issue, but an official workaround for the problem is yet to be released. Some Skype support engineers, on the other hand, have published step-by-step guides on how to recover lost contacts in case the transition is interrupted by the aforementioned glitch.