Sources: current Windows Phone devices will not get ‘Apollo’ upgrade
Earlier today, a developer evangelist for Microsoft was quoted as saying that all Windows Phone devices would get an upgrade to the “next major version” of the operating system. Now, a trusted source close to Microsoft tells us …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has set this trap for itself before: in March 2010 it told Windows Mobile 6.x owners there would be no upgrade path to Windows Phone 7 at all, stranding that installed base at a version boundary. Since then the platform has run on a stated cadence of one major version per year, with Nokia's VP pointing to Apollo arriving 'middle of next year' in an October 2011 interview.
Now The Verge's source claims today's Windows Phone handsets will be cut off from Apollo too — directly contradicting a Microsoft developer evangelist who was quoted saying every device would move to the next major version. The story travelled fast across Ars Technica, Engadget, Mary Jo Foley and the Windows Phone enthusiast press, which tells you how load-bearing the upgrade promise is to the platform's credibility ahead of Apollo's launch.
First-order effects
- Current Windows Phone owners face the prospect their handsets stop at the current OS generation, with the evangelist's all-devices promise now reading as either wrong or narrower than it sounded ('all future devices').
- Microsoft's messaging problem lands mid-cycle: Apollo is expected around the middle of 2012 per Nokia's own timeline, so buyers deciding whether a Lumia or other WP7 handset is safe to purchase get a split signal on day one.
Second-order effects
- Nokia carries the heaviest exposure — its Windows Phone relaunch depends on convincing buyers the platform has momentum, and a rumored cutoff undermines the very pitch its VP made when promising Apollo for mid-2012.
- Developers building for Windows Phone must hedge their targets between the WP7 installed base and an Apollo-only API surface, fragmenting app investment just when the platform can least afford thin catalog coverage.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — Windows Mobile 6.x stranded in 2010, WP7 possibly stranded in 2012 — Microsoft risks making 'wait for the next hardware generation' the default assumption about its mobile platforms, taxing every launch cycle before it begins.
- A confirmed cutoff would also sharpen the contrast with rivals' longer support commitments, pushing carriers and handset partners to weigh ecosystem durability, not just device specs, when allocating shelf space.
The trend: Microsoft's mobile strategy keeps resetting its installed base at each major OS boundary, and whether Apollo repeats the 2010 pattern will shape buyer trust in the platform's annual update cadence.