Microsoft Knew Windows Phone Early Adopters Would Get Screwed

Not many Windows Phone 7 owners were too happy with the news that the forthcoming upgrade, Windows Phone 8, would not be available for their WP7 device, even for the flagship Nokia Lumia 900 that just came out a few months ago. What makes this worse is Microsoft was working on WP8 to some degree before WP7 even launched!

Apple has done a really good job of keeping your hardware from going obsolete. Since the original iOS device, the first iPhone, Apple has consistently provided two full version upgrades to the device, and sometimes more. The iPhone 3GS, released in the summer of 2009 with iOS 3, will get iOS 6 this fall. Sure, not every feature will be supported due to hardware limitations, but the big benefits will be there.

Microsoft got a pass when WP7 came out and broke all compatibility with every phone and app that ran on Windows Mobile 6.x. The underlying platform for WinMo devices was a decade old and needed a reboot. I won't give MS a pass for doing the same thing less than 2 years later, especially when it knew from day one that WP7 was just a stall tactic.

According to CNet, Microsoft's Greg Sullivan said work on WP8 was ongoing before WP7 launched:

"It was right after Windows Phone 7," Sullivan said, speaking in an interview with CNET UK. The team that developed the 7.5 release actually was working in parallel with the core team that was already beginning [Windows Phone 8]. In fact some of that work was already initiated before Windows Phone 7 was even available -- so this goes back a little bit."

Unifying the Windows Phone and full-fat Windows kernel "was always the plan", he adds.

Sorry Microsoft. That is inexcusable. I'll be spending my money with a company that has a bit more respect for the consumer.

 

Posted with Blogsy