A little over a month ago, dust was kicked up about Skype’s overall plan to drop support for Windows phones still sporting the 8 and 8.1 operating systems. Now that the dust seemed to have settled on the unfortunate situation, the Skype team is back at it kicking up more dust by announcing the bitter details regarding the end of support for Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 handsets as well as anyone who is still rocking an RT device (spotted by Neowin).
Relating to the end of support for devices still running Windows 8 RT:
While support will no longer be available from October 2016, Skype for Windows RT will continue to work (possibly with some limitations) until early 2017, when we finish moving Skype calling to the cloud.
For folks who unfortunately cannot upgrade their devices to Windows 10 Mobile, here is the bad news:
While support will no longer be available from October 2016, the Skype app on Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1 will continue to work (possibly with some limitations) until early 2017, when we finish moving Skype calling to the cloud.
While it’s perhaps of little consolation to anyone who is being left out of the Skype platform upgrade, it should be noted that the ‘early 2017’ time frame may coincide with Microsoft’s rumored new smartphone-focused hardware release. Several high-ranking officials within Microsoft’s Windows and Surface divisions have pointed to an early 2017 event in which the company plans to unveil new hardware supporting its Redstone 2 or Windows 10 update efforts such as Skype powered Messaging Everywhere.
Again, not something that current Skype users may want to hear or care about, but some food for thought.
Let us know in the comments below, what you think of Skype’s support dates as well as services you might on replacing or augmenting your use of Skype with in the future.
