Microsoft confirmed Friday that it is shutting down a host of unpopular mobile apps including cross-platform Photosynth app and a trio of its MSN apps- MSN Food & Drink, MSN Health & Fitness, MSN Travel- for Windows, Windows Phone, iOS and Android.
Redmond has already begun sending out notices to users of the apps to notify them of the apps’ closure.
“We regularly evaluate our business to ensure we’re focused on the areas where our users find the most value. We will continue to support those apps with broad consumer appeal including News, Weather, Sports and Money, which will be made available as apps on Windows 10 and will remain cross platform,” reads a statement from Microsoft.
Photosynth app analyzes digital photographs and generates a 3D model of the photos using pattern recognition. The cross-platform app will remain up and running, but will no longer be supported or maintained by Microsoft now. Users are being asked to upload their panoramas to the Photosynth.net website, which will still be maintained.
“Today we are announcing that we are retiring the Photosynth mobile apps. We are doing this because the new Photosynth Preview technology and its cloud processing is a more immersive way to capture a place than the spherical panoramas that our apps produce,” the Photosynth team said in a blog post.
Elsewhere, Microsoft will discontinue the MSN Food & Drink app for Windows, iOS and Android on September 28; the MSN Travel app on September 28; and the MSN Health & Fitness app for Windows, iOS and Android on November 1.
Microsoft has confirmed that closure of the apps will not result in any job loss as the teams working on the apps will be transferred to other applications or related projects. Furthermore, the software giant also revealed that it plans to discontinue a few of MSN’s lifestyle mobile apps by sometime later this year.
It seems shuttering of the apps comes as part of Microsoft’s broader strategy to trim parts of the company that aren’t performing well.
