PayPal is doing some spring (or summer) cleaning, and it’s really clearing out the closet. In a blog post last week, the popular payment processor announced that it would be discontinuing mobile apps for Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Amazon’s Fire OS. The company says that it will be focusing exclusively on app support for Android and iOS devices, leaving everyone else out in the cold.
To be fair, “everyone else” really isn’t all that many people. In the first quarter of this year, Apple and Google accounted for 97 percent of all smartphone sales, leaving little room for competition. And apparently, little reason for continued PayPal support elsewhere.
“For Windows Phone users, we will sunset the current version of the PayPal app on June 30,” PayPal wrote in its blog post. “However, Windows Phone users can still access PayPal through our mobile web experience on Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge browsers. Outlook.com users can also use the PayPal add-in to send money directly from their inbox.”
The same applies to Amazon Fire or Blackberry users, though the San Jose-based company added, “Blackberry users can also continue to use the BBM app to send peer-to-peer payments via PayPal.”
The processing solution offered little by way of explanation as to its decision, simply saying, “It was a difficult decision to no longer support the PayPal app on these mobile platforms, but we believe it’s the right thing to ensure we are investing our resources in creating the very best experiences for our customers.”
The company concluded, “We remain committed to partnering with mobile device providers, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.”
So if you’re among the 3 percent who has yet to pick a side in the ongoing Android versus iOS debate, maybe this latest move from PayPal will catalyze a decision.
