San Francisco, Oct 28 (IANS): Joe Belfiore, known as the face of the Windows phone and a Microsoft veteran, has announced his retirement from the software giant after 32 years.

Belfiore was the head-of-product and co-manager of the Office team.

In a tweet on Friday, he said: "Today I shared with my team that after 32 fantastic years, I will be retiring from Microsoft.

"I'm staying on until summer to help with the transition, then focus on the two kids still at home and the 1 who just started college."

A user commented on Belfiore's tweet to congratulate him and said: "Thank you for your efforts, Joe. I still miss Windows Phone to this day. Good luck in your future endeavors and enjoy the family time."

Another user commented: " I just want to thank you for what you have done. I have been a windows phone user since lumia 800. And held on to the platform until around 2016 with a 930xl. I still miss my WP Home Screen everyday."

In 2017 after struggling to sell Windows smartphones as Google's Android and Apple iOS Operating Systems (OS) surged, Microsoft had admitted that the software giant will no longer develop new features or hardware for Windows 10 mobiles.