Microsoft is pulling the plug on Android apps for Windows. The corporate mentioned it’s ending assist for Home windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), the underlying part behind the Amazon Appstore (and different Android apps) in Home windows 11. Microsoft instructed Engadget it was responding to “evolving buyer wants.”
Microsoft first mentioned in 2021 that Home windows 11 would be capable to run Android apps. When it arrived the following year, customers might set up the Amazon Appstore, and a few particular person Android apps had been discovered within the Microsoft Retailer. The rollout was seen as a solution to the twin threats of Android apps on Chromebooks and iOS apps on Apple Silicon Macs.
A Microsoft spokesperson clarified to Engadget why it’s now terminating the characteristic. “As a part of our dedication to assembly evolving buyer wants, we periodically replace our product choices,” they mentioned. “This entails introducing new technical improvements and retiring merchandise. Microsoft stays devoted to an open platform and ecosystem, and we look ahead to persevering with to deliver the most effective experiences and apps to Home windows.”
With Microsoft blazing full-tilt into all things AI, it might now see its previous makes an attempt at making Home windows a dramatically higher touch-focused platform as not definitely worth the sources. One other risk, as The Verge speculates, is that folks looking for Android apps on Home windows anticipated the total Google Play Store expertise — not Amazon’s variant, which has an inferior general choice.
Microsoft says prospects who put in the Amazon Appstore (or different apps and video games utilizing WSA) on their Home windows 11 machines earlier than Tuesday can hold utilizing them till March 5, 2025. In the meantime, Amazon clarified that its Appstore and affiliate apps will not be discoverable within the Microsoft Retailer starting on Wednesday. As well as, builders can not submit new apps for the Amazon Appstore on Home windows, however these with present ones can proceed to submit updates for them till this time subsequent 12 months.
As for what’s subsequent for Microsoft, the corporate is rumored to launch new Floor units on March 21. The Floor Professional 10 and Floor Laptop computer 6 are anticipated, with the corporate probably marketing them as its first AI PCs.
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