HERE to withdraw Maps app support for Windows 10 and Windows Phone 8 apps from 29 March

After a long term partnership, it seems that HERE is finally ready to break its ties with the Windows smartphone ecosystem. The mapping giant that was recently acquired by a group of German automakers, has announced that it will pull the plug for its Maps app for Windows 10 devices and stop supporting the app for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. Yes, this even includes the Maps app installed on Windows 8 PCs.

The HERE branded apps will be removed from the Windows Store on March 29 and the company will limit the the development of the apps for Windows Phone 8 to critical bug fixes. All this while, the company could cater to Windows 10 users, thanks to a workaround that will no longer be effective after June 30. The company would have to redevelop its apps for Windows 10 post that and it seems the platform is not worth the effort at the moment, which is why it decided to remove its apps altogether.The blog post seems to have broken a lot of hearts (looking at the comments), more so because some users actually purchased a Lumia device to use the HERE Maps for offline navigation.

“We’ve been developing mobile maps applications for about 10 years, since the first smartphones came with GPS. As the market evolves, we keep in step by introducing our apps for new operating systems while stopping support for others.” said the blog post that seems to have explained in detail about how it affects both the Windows 10 and the Windows Phone 8 users.

According to HERE, Windows 10 users will be least affected. This is because the default Windows Maps app in Windows 10 which was developed by HERE and Microsoft does have plenty of HERE Maps features (from the assets they received in 2014). In fact, HERE suggests that users to download the Windows Maps app for Windows 10 and get accustomed to it before the shut down.

Coming to Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 devices, HERE claims that it will not affect owners as HERE will continue to provide support in the form of critical bug fixes (with no developments).

The reason for killing support is evidently clear. Still then, HERE explains that with an evolving market, the company can only focus on the latest operating systems and this is often done by reducing support for others. Clearly, this is something to do with Microsoft’s smartphone market share that seems to be in single digits all thanks to its dwindling app store.