PayPal drives another nail into the Windows Phone and BlackBerry coffins
In February, PayPal launched a new version of its mobile app, 6.0, and it wants iPhone and Android users to upgrade to it until the end of June. Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Amazon Fire users, however, are getting a different message: Paypal is discontinuing the app on these platforms on June 30.
In an announcement post Wednesday, PayPal VP Joanna Lambert explained that Windows Phone users will still be able to access PayPal on the mobile web, through both Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Likewise, Amazon Fire and BlackBerry users are advised to switch to the mobile web experience, though the post notes that on BlackBerry, you can continue to use the BBM app to send peer-to-peer PayPal payments.
"It was a difficult decision to no longer support the PayPal app on these mobile platforms, but we believe it’s the right thing to ensure we are investing our resources in creating the very best experiences for our customers. We remain committed to partnering with mobile device providers, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers," Lambert wrote.
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It's no surprise that support for BlackBerry and Windows Phone is dwindling. In a recent Gartner report, the two platforms had less than 1% market share between them (Windows had 0.7% and BlackBerry had 0.2%). In February, WhatsApp announced it would no longer support BlackBerry at the end of 2016. And several companies, including GoPro and Here dropped support for Windows Phone this year.
BlackBerry has been coping with its ever-shrinking market share by pivoting to Android; the company said in April it plans to release two Android phones this year. Microsoft's mobile future is somewhat muddier, but with the company recently selling its feature phone business, and laying off 1,850 employees from its smartphone division, it looks as if Windows Phone's fate is sealed.
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Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
