Microsoft fires another 2,850 Windows Phone employees

Microsoft brass handed out another 2,850 pink slips to now ex-employees who worked on Windows Phone. The information was discovered yesterday in SEC documents filed by the company. The new job cuts come after 1,850 Windows Phone workers were let go in May. The 2,850 will stay with Microsoft until the end of next June.

Those fired worked in sales (900 in Global sales have already been informed of their fate) and in Windows Phone's hardware division. The cuts affect only 2.5% of Microsoft's total workforce, but represent a larger share of Windows Phone workers. The platform continues to lose market share to iOS and Android, even after the release of Windows 10 Mobile. Fans are holding out hope that the long rumored Surface Phone will turn around the fortunes of Microsoft's smartphone business. The handset(s) will reportedly be designed by Microsoft's highly regarded Surface team led by Panos Panay. A photograph leaked in May that allegedly showed off the Surface Phone, probably didn't give Microsoft fans too much hope about the future.

News of the firings come less than a week after Justin Timberlake appeared as a surprise performer at an internal Microsoft event held in Orlando. Most likely on the schedule before the decision was made to sack the 2,850, it nevertheless seems like a cruel gesture by the software giant to pump up employees' morale, and then pull the floor out from under them just days later.

source: TheRegister