According to the Windows observer outfit, Windows IT Pro, Windows 8 nor a Windows 8 update will not be available for the current crop of Windows phone hardware. That is some serious bad news for current owners of Windows Phone, which include both the high-end Nokia Lumia 800 and the new LTE-compliant Lumia 900. According to Windows IT Pro, the new supposedly multi-device OS will not join the current Windows Phone system. The blog also said that while there will be some updates for non-Windows 8 phone features there will be no updates for Windows 8 itself. Does this make sense considering Microsoft’s overall multi-device strategy.
How does this impact current owners of Nokia Windows Phone units? Their only option is to buy new phones! Whether you are the proud owner of a high-end LTE powered Lumia 900 on AT&T or a lower-end Windows Phone, your only option is to score a newer phone or a phone that was released after the launch of Windows 8. If this is shocking to you, it shouldn’t be. This is the same predicament faced by some high-end Android device owners when a big Android update appears on the horizon.
Windows IT Pro gives three key reasons why the Nokia Lumia 900 is not ready for Windows 8. First, the business partners of Microsoft have so far sold very few devices. This makes it unfeasible to offer free updates for such a small sample. This might seem to make sense at some level, but Microsoft is probably saving money by giving free updates than having to spend even more money trying to compensate for the bad publicity a Grinch move would generate. Also, it really can’t afford any negative news distracting from the hype it is orchestrating for Windows 8′s debut. The second reason given by the blog is that Windows 8 supposedly requires higher processing power. This goes against the single processor architecture of the Lumia 800 and 900. If this is true, then this point makes a lot of sense and would be quite dispositive. Third, the blog says that wireless carriers do not really have any built in incentives to support the new update since they would rather sell new phones. Again, from a business feasibility perspective, this does not make sense. Why alienate a base of customers you already have when it is so hard recruiting new recurring customers?
All told, the processor issue, assuming Windows 8 truly needs dual processing, is the dispositive reason for no update being issued for existing Windows phones.