Facebook-owned instant messaging client WhatsApp will stop supporting all BlackBerry OS versions (including BlackBerry 10); Nokia's Symbian S40 and Symbian S60 versions; dated Android versions, 2.1 Eclair and 2.2 Froyo and Windows Phone 7.1 totting devices by the end of this calendar year. The company took to its official blog to make the formal announcement insisting that none of the aforementioned operating systems "offer the kind of capabilities they (we) need to expand their (our) app's features in the future.
It must be noted that back in 2009 when WhatsApp began its journey, operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia played an important role in its growth. Android and iOS were new and running on only less than 25 per cent of the devices. Seven years hence the tables have turned and how.
"When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people's use of mobile devices looked very different from today. The Apple App Store was only a few months old. About 70 per cent of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia. Mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft -- which account for 99.5 per cent of sales today -- were on less than 25 per cent of mobile devices sold at the time," the company said.
As such WhatsApp wants to focus its efforts on the mobile platforms that stand majority in terms of usage.
"This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp," the company added.
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