Microsoft previews Windows Phone 8

by Volker Weber

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Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft previewed Windows Phone 8 yesterday. They are phasing out the Windows CE kernel and moving to a common Windows architecture. This is where Windows Phone 7 and Phone 8 part. You won't be able top upgrade your existing WP7 phone to WP8. That's bad, no matter how Microsoft sugarcoats it by providing some of the WP8 features in a 7.8 update.

Existing WP7 apps will run on WP8, but WP8 apps most likely will not run on WP7. And that is going to be your problem.

Not being able to upgrade a WP7 to WP8 should also be a big problem for Nokia. How do you convince people to buy a device that is going to be old hat in six months? If you want that, you might as well buy an Android.

Comments

T-Mobile has already refused to take the Nokia 900 into their portfolio for that reason.

Axel Koerv, 2012-06-21

Not to forget: New devices with WP8 will only be supported for 18 Months. An iPhone 4 - about 2 years old - would not be supported from Microsoft anymore. Apple even supports the 3GS, which ist 3 years old. Windows Phone? No thanks.

Alper Iseri, 2012-06-21

Yep.

MS has really and royally screwed over those who placed some faith or interest in them and bought into WP7 - these are the very people who they should have made damn sure could come with them.

We get thrown some crumbs (WP7.8) whilst they bring out the new banquet? Well I am going to eat in another restaurant when my Lumina 800 needs replacing.

I will never, ever buy any Windows Phone personally again and won't be recommending anyone else does either. OK, I'm just one person but won't all of the other hundreds of thousands (millions?) of owners of now obsolete kit be doing the same?

And I think I am hard done by? What on earth do they think is going to happen to Nokia, now that they are left with shelfloads of 'old' technology. Maybe MS will buy them, maybe not. Again, having p'd off their existing owners I would question who will buy into them again - no matter how good (or not) they are.

Shame on you Microsoft. Shame on you.

Garry Lees, 2012-06-21

@Alper: the iPad 1 on sale till March last year is now also out of support ->no IOS 6 update. What's the difference, they all do more or less the same.

Frank van Rijt, 2012-06-21

@Frank:
- iPad 1 - Released May 2010, supported till July 2012 (2 years)
- iPhone 3GS - Released May 2009, supported till July 2012 (3 years)
- Nokia Lumia 710 - Release Jan 2012, supported till Aug 2012 (7 months)

Alper Iseri, 2012-06-21

How do you mean 'not supported'? Does the gear dissolve when WP8 is out?
Really, I fail to get the problem. Most people will not care nor note the difference anyway ;)

Hubert Stettner, 2012-06-21

Most people won't care because they don't own a Windows phone ;-)
If you are a competitor and want to grow you have to be better. If you compete with a strong leader it gets even worse because you have to be better and cheaper.
And of course people do care. Not those who already own a Windows Phone but those who are going to buy a new phone now or short term.
People are waiting for the next iPhone or the new Galaxy why shouldn't they for the next WP8 (and this is bad news for Nokia). And when those new WP8 devices are ready Apple is probably out with iPhone 5 and Samsung with Tizen.

Henning Heinz, 2012-06-21

Allthough the current devices will have to option to be upgraded to 7.8, the signal is given that current devices will not run WM 8. Why buy now current WP7 device, say a Lumia 900 -> end of the year the platform is outdated, but still supported. I think that signal is not positive.

I'm still curious to what level support will stop once 7.8 out as final version.
Is that the final 7.X version or will there become additional fixes/improvements for the 7.x release after that release. Like Windows XP is currently still supported & gets still hotfixes and security updates.

Same is for the iPad 1 -> will there be newer 5.x updates to fix issues/security problems.


Frank van Rijt, 2012-06-21

Looking at the specs, the W8 phone is a good phone. But if you just bought a lumia (w7) you'll have phone envy for some time. I'm putting on my conspiracy hat for a moment and reducing the medication. So you've been warned. This is a good one worthy of a Grisham thriller.

So ms has brought out a phone o/s that is incompatible with, the now old, W7? The ol rip n replace strategy at work again. Nokia it seems has bet the farm on MS delivering a phone o/s for them in order to regain market relevance. As some of the comments indicate, they will not buy the new w8 because of this betrayal of trust. No doubt the independent developers, of whom ms has spent lots of $$$ to recruit and build apps for W7, will be impressed having to recompile (recode ?), re-test their apps.. This could reset the app market for W8 phones to near 0. It may take another 2years to regain momentum. Right now W7 development will have most likely stopped dead. So if you have a group of unhappy W7 users, and developers who are probably hesitating on further investment, (what will happen with W9?), then where does that leave Nokia ? Ready for a takeover by MS at a fraction of the cost it would have paid 2 years ago when Nokia sold its soul. A brilliant plan executed over 2-3 years and we're now seeing the start of the last act being played of ms' plan to buy a vendor at any cost. Or has MS just screwed the pooch on market loyalty and trust of its consumers wasting a few billion on their deal with Nokia? Ok, resuming medication.

Giulio Campobassi, 2012-06-22

A rip and replace from Microsoft? Never!

Ed Brill, 2012-06-22

Afaik Windows Phone apps that work on WP7 should work on WP8. Apps build for WP8 will not run on WP7. Maybe this is Rip & Replace for some others might just call it progress.
What you call stopped dead development is quite the opposite.
Windows Phone and the traditional Windows are moving closer (Apple did the same with OSX and iOS by the way). It should be possible to easier develop native applications for both Windows Phone and Windows 8 Metro.
I still don't like Windows Phone (7) and the Metro UI but at least the theory makes a lot of sense to me. It is true that Nokia will have another few hard months (and I would have preferred they chose a different direction) but their future to me looks better than Sony for instance (in mobile).

Henning Heinz, 2012-06-22

Rip and replace "works" for RIM - why shouldn't it work for Microsoft?

Peter Meuser, 2012-06-23

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