If Microsoft is good at any one thing at the moment, it’s muddying the waters and casting doubt on the fate of existing devices and potential upgrades. I’m talking about nothing other than the uncertainty surrounding existing Windows Phone 7 devices and their ability to receive an upgrade to Windows Phone 8 (which will be based off the forthcoming Windows 8). This is despite a player as huge as Nokia pushing its Lumia range and its flapship Lumia 900 like crazy with seemingly great success.<\/p>\n
Then, we have big names like Paul Thurrott who has information from inside sources at Microsoft<\/a> who have categorically stated that existing handsets will not see an upgrade to Windows Phone 8. While I tend to trust what Paul would put out there in terms of information I can’t help but feel that maybe this is not the end the conjecture. Microsoft are still silent on the whole issue which I guess is not surprising given the impact it would have upon sales if they confirmed that none of the existing Windows Phone 7 devices would handle an upgrade to Windows Phone 8. This is amidst Microsoft forging ahead with Tango for Windows Phone 7 which enables the ability for the OS to operate with as little as 256MB RAM (apparently for developing markets to help keep costs down).<\/p>\n What do I think is going on?<\/p>\n Well, I have no inside sources at Microsoft but I can perhaps see Microsoft positioning Windows Phone 7 as a legacy OS aimed primarily at developing markets where most of the growth will be realised. Low end devices would not have seen Windows Phone 8 anyway. Existing owners of mid to high end devices will continue to receive updates for Windows Phone 7 but the focus will shift to native Windows Phone 8 devices. We saw how the HTC HD2 was rumoured to be\u00a0upgradeable<\/a>\u00a0from Windows Mobile 6.5 to Windows Phone 7 but the bottom fell out of an official upgrade<\/a> leaving hackers to do the work instead.<\/p>\n So, it’s not completely foreign for Microsoft to leave a platform and\u00a0compatible\u00a0devices to wither and die.<\/p>\n Still, I can’t believe that the special partnerships between Nokia and Microsoft would culminate in the Lumia 800 and 900 not being upgradeable to Windows Phone 8. We’ve seen the “Windows on ARM” version of Windows 8 running on an Asus mobile device<\/a>\u00a0– so it’s possible.<\/p>\n Personally, this is affecting my ability to justify an acquisition of a Lumia 900 and perhaps makes me wonder if I should update my Android phone in the meantime and then wait for Windows Phone 8 devices to surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If Microsoft is good at any one thing at the moment, it’s muddying the waters and casting doubt on the fate of existing devices and potential upgrades. I’m talking about nothing other than the uncertainty surrounding existing Windows Phone 7 devices and their ability to receive an upgrade to Windows Phone 8 (which will be … <\/p>\n