LinkedIn has announced that it will be closing Intro, a mobile service designed specifically to display users’ LinkedIn profiles contacts in Apple Mail messages, on March 7. The company is now alerting users to uninstall the app from their iOS device before the closure.
LinkedIn launched Intro mail service, more likely a plugin for iPhones working hand in hand with the iOS email app, as a part of their larger product suit last October. Following the launch, there was quick and negative response for Intro from security researchers of Bishop Fox who called the service to be “a dream for attackers.”
LinkedIn, in its announcement of Intro’s closure, said nothing related to security, but claimed this move to be about “focus.”
LinkedIn’s senior VP of products and user experience, Deep Nishar, said: “This year, LinkedIn is committing to the concept of focus more than ever. We are making large, long-term investments on a few big bets, and in order to ensure their success, we need to concentrate on fewer things. With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at our product offerings and made the decision to shut down some services.”
Intro users have received an email from LinkedIn with the subject line “We’re retiring LinkedIn Intro”, asking them to uninstall the app and switch back to the previous mail accounts. The company has also made it clear that people will be able to use Rapportive, which connects LinkedIn profiles with Gmail.
LinkedIn has also announced Slidecast closure on April 30, 2014 and has decided to end the support for LinkedIn iPad app on iOS versions older than 6.0 as of February 18, 2014, encouraging users to download the latest app version from App store.
