14 DAY TRIAL // Windows devices are losing yet another application, and although the developer hasn’t provided a reason for its decision, it’s not hard to imagine why it decided to focus on Android and iOS.
The UK Bus Checker app, which was available on both Windows phones and Windows PCs, can no longer be downloaded, as the parent company pulled it to invest in platforms with more users.
“Unfortunately, support for Bus Checker on the Windows Phone and Windows PC platform has now been discontinued. As of January 2017, the app is no longer available to download or restore from the Windows Store and will cease to function,” a notification posted on the company’s website reads.
UK Bus Checker was an app that allowed users to keep track and get notifications of arrival information for buses across the United Kingdom, with live information collected from the GPS receivers located inside each bus displayed right within the app’s main screen.
Full focus on Android and iOS
Unfortunately, starting this month, the application is exclusively available on Android and iOS, the two platforms that are currently dominating the mobile world.
Although the developer doesn’t specifically mention the lack of apps as the reason it decided to abandon the platform, there’s no doubt that this is the case, as many other app makers abandoned Windows phone after seeing the market share of Microsoft’s mobile operating system collapse.
In the meantime, Microsoft doesn’t say a single thing about its plans for Windows phones, so the number of users who stick with the platform is also collapsing.
The Surface Phone is believed to be Redmond’s next big hardware product in terms of Windows phones, but even its existence is uncertain, as the company itself has so far been tight-lipped on anything related to it. People familiar with the matter said it could launch in the fall of 2017, but nothing is confirmed so far, so it’s all just a big hope that at some point, Windows Phone can re-become a compelling product for users across the world.