Microsoft's senior product manager for Windows Phone Greg Sullivan in an interview said, "this clean break for Windows Phone 8 was by design and in fact part of the plan for the platform from the very beginning. Back when buyers were grabbing the very first Windows Phones, Microsoft was already working on Windows Phone 8 for future buyers only".
Why would Microsoft's plan involve leaving early supporters in the cold? Apps, according to Sullivan, or more correctly developers building Windows Phone apps. They needed an installed base to get developers interested in creating apps, so they pushed Windows Phone knowing it would be forked in very short order.
Microsoft has stated clearly that Windows Phone 8 requires phone hardware that no existing handset possesses, and thus the need for leaving older phones behind. That may be so, but unsuspecting buyers of Windows Phone between now and the rollout of new Windows Phone 8 hardware will never get to experience what Sullivan admits is cooler than anything to come yet.
"There are a whole series of... new capabilities and features that will come that we haven't talked about and there's integration with Windows 8 that we'll demo closer to the date," he says.
Sounds pretty nice but new buyers of a Windows Phone, even those who buy after this is written, will never get to run Windows Phone 8. The bus has left the station and Microsoft is firmly behind early Windows Phone buyers.
So, what Sullivan indirectly means to say is that Windows Phone 7 was a paid beta test for Windows Phone platform. Now, the argument Microsoft loyalists put are like-
"But Microsoft still gives us a Windows 7.8 update." This is untrue, WP7.8 has nothing new to offer except smaller tiles. It just mimics the WP8 look to please some users. Its like Windows 6x with WP7 skin with no new feature.
"But the current hardware won't support it." Again if Microsoft is lazy enough or don't care about current phones then, there is no chance they will support new feature. I have one doubt here, if single core processors are not supported in WP8 will that mean, dual-core will be an entry point for WP8 phones.This will make WP8 platform only available for mid and upper market segment and not the lower mass market which still accounts for bulk of sales.
"But Android and iOS don't follow the same strategy." OK, here Android for one doesn't follow this strategy. Android can be installed on meager 600Mhz single core handsets to latest and greatest Quad cores. Yes, the device manufacturers are culprits here. And, one important thing here is that most apps are backward compatible unlike, WP platform where WP7 apps will work on WP8 but reverse is not possible, which is the only thing matters to average customers. Another thing in favor of Android is that, advanced users can simply install third-party ROMs to get the latest and greatest version of Android. However, on Apple side, this is partially true. Apple do limit some features to only latest models, but that's because it is the main selling point of the their handsets. Like, iPhone 4 was only restricted from Siri to differentiate it from flagship iPhone 4S.
For full coverage on on Windows Phone 8 head over to this article.
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