Apollo Plus: Microsoft's next Windows Phone update to include Wi-Fi, audio, and other fixes
Microsoft is currently preparing an update for Windows Phone 8, codenamed Apollo Plus. Sources have confirmed to The Verge that Apollo Plus will bring new features to Windows Phone 8 that weren't fully in scope for the initial release.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apollo Plus is a fast follow-up to a launch that only happened weeks ago: Microsoft held its Windows Phone 8 event at the end of October, and sources now say an update codenamed Apollo Plus is already in preparation with Wi-Fi, audio, and other fixes that missed the initial release scope. The 'Apollo' name carries baggage — back in April, sources said current Windows Phone devices would not get the Apollo upgrade at all, making WP8 a clean break that left the installed base behind.
That split is live again this week: Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7.8 in June as the consolation update for existing devices, but has gone quiet on it, and critics argue 7.8 falls short of what early adopters were promised. Meanwhile the story is traveling widely — eight outlets including the Guardian and PC Pro picked up the Apollo Plus report on day one.
First-order effects
- Windows Phone 8 buyers get a near-term fix path for Wi-Fi and audio issues within weeks of the October launch, shortening the window where early hardware ships with known defects.
- Nokia, which timed Apollo for 'middle of next year' per its VP back in 2011 and is now selling WP8 hardware, gets a platform-level patch cycle it does not have to fund device-by-device.
Second-order effects
- The visible pace of WP8 fixes sharpens the contrast with the silent Windows Phone 7.8 track, pressuring Microsoft to give WP7 owners a date or absorb more goodwill damage from the base it already stranded by excluding them from Apollo.
- A named, scoped point release sets expectations for carriers and OEMs to budget for frequent update certification rather than treating each OS drop as a one-off event.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Windows Phone shifts from the old model of monolithic releases — WP7.5 was pitched as over 500 new features per WMPoweruser — toward smaller, faster increments, changing how feature gaps between launches are judged.
- Rapid post-launch patching becomes table stakes in mobile OS competition, raising the cost for any platform that strands its installed base on a slow legacy track, as Microsoft's own WP7-to-WP8 split illustrates.
The trend: Mobile operating systems are moving from annual blockbuster releases toward rapid incremental point updates, with the speed of post-launch fixes becoming a competitive signal.