Google blocks Windows Phone users from Google Maps

It's a sad day for consumers as Google has expanded its cold war against Microsoft. Recently the search giant removed ActiveSync support, and now it appears Google is blocking Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps:

Google has previously already said they will not be making apps for Windows Phone and Windows 8, but now they have taking things a step further by blocking Windows Phones (both 7.5 and 8) from accessing maps.google.com.

If you try you are automatically redirected to Google’s mobile search page, even if your phone is in desktop mode, which of course does not give you access to Google Maps.

Strangely enough, for now, maps.google.co.uk works perfectly fine, indicating some switch somewhere did get flipped.

In a statement to LA Times, Google denies it's blocking Windows Phone users and claims "Google Maps simply was never designed to work with the Internet Explorer browser on the Windows Phone":

The company’s specific technical explanation: “The mobile Web version of Google Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari. However, since Internet Explorer is not a WebKit browser, Windows Phone devices are not able to access Google Maps for the mobile Web."