Skyfire withdraws service from Rest of the World

June 29, 2010 | By Surur

No Skyfire for ROW MobileRoyal reports that the server-based browser, Skyfire, has now stopped offering service to clients connecting from countries other than UK, USA and Canada.

Users from other countries encounter the following notice when trying to connect:

Dear Skyfire User, As, of July 1st, 2010 Skyfire will no longer be providing service in your country for the windows mobile and symbian browser. In order to offer the best possible service level for our officially supported customers and countries , Skyfire is consolidating the countries in which it operates. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope you have enjoyed the Skyfire will work on your phone until July 1st 2010,at which time the service will be de-activated and your browser will no longer function. You can direct inquiries about this to geo@skyfire.com.

Users complaining in Skyfire’s forums were told Skyfire regret it is hard for them to provide coverage to the whole world at once, and that the rest of the world was never officially supported.

Are any of our readers affected by the move? Let us know below.

via Allaboutsymbian.com

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged browser, browsers, skyfire

VIW

yeah, affected in Australia. Doesn't affect Skyfire from Android phones, so I think it's just their excuse to withdraw support for WM and Symbian handsets in most countries imo.

Don't really care too much since Skyfire 1.5 is crap compared to the beta 2.1 on offer on Android.
Fiona

This is SkyfIre putting all its efforts behind Android, and deserting Microsoft's mobile platforms.

For many users of Windows Mobile phones, Skyfire was one of the main reasons for staying with Windows Mobile, as it was a saved us from the archaic and slow Internet Explorer mobile, which to me was unusable.

Skyfire is also going to avoid Windows Phone 7, which will have IE as its sole browser. Meanwhile, Nokia's MeeGo mobile OS will have both WebKit and Firefox, while Android users will have the choice of WebKit, Firefox, Opera and Skyfire.

I consider the browser to be the #1 application for a smartphone, so browsing experience is the most important feature to me. Browsing speed is vital.

snarlie

No, this is Skyfire realizing that no one wants to buy them as they originally planned. So now they are desperate to cut costs.

The company had no working business model, and now they are reaping the rewards of their short-sightedness.

Skyfire was always a crappy, over-hyped browser. Video was slow, choppy and laggy, and the browsing speed never came close to the competition.

I hope they go bankrupt.

adp

I think it was a smart move by them because IE in WP7 will support Flash & Silverlight, there will be no need for a another browser.

KennyB123

To put all your eggs in the IE basket is seriously short-sided. Since when has IE for any mobile device been the number one choice for ANYONE? Microsoft has a lot on the line with IE for WP7, so I know it will be a major improvement from what we are currently stuck with, but I think we can all agree that the likelihood is that we'll be wanting an Opera and Skyfire option for WP7.

Abdel

Hate to say that but seriously "screw them".
http://twitter.com/schmalspursolda @schmalspursolda

seriously, arrogant bastards….
Vishwamitra

Not makes much difference here in India however at times was useful as the Opera9.6 in my Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 is not fully flash enabled but yes even on wi-fi the version 1.5 was choppy and so were the videos. The good part was the facebook, twitter and other feeds on the home screen which I will surely miss.

Regarding Symbian however I consider the Nokia browser on new E & N series devices (E-52/72 and N97/Mini etc.) more functional and zippy again minus the feeds on home screen.

Luckily the Uzard beta came in time which has much better rendering plus plays videos in a separate window. Still would love to see the version on android which I plan to switch once 2.2 froyo becomes the norm and stabilizes.

Regarding IE well I hope microsoft finally wake up with WP7…
mbcls

you kids forgot there is also uZardWeb browser!
it also proxy based and support flash! http://www.uzard.com/en
Sledgehammer

One word: *LAME*
http://www.facebook.com/HaroonTheGreat Haroon Saeed

ok so skyfire 1.5 is working on htc hd2 tmobile usa but it seems that hulu is not working (from what ive read this has been an on and off issue?) My concern is; I just purchased the HD2 and have SKYFIRE and cannot use HULU; will this issue be fixed? (Again?)