Of course it won't.

Nobody claimed it would.

It is a three year old handset.

How up to date will the Lumia 900 software be in 3 years time?

Obviously Apple wants to encourage customers to buy the latest handset as much as possible via feature differentiation.

But at least if a new app is developed which isn't demanding of the hardware (such as Instagram, DrawSomething, or whatever the next trend is) then it may run on the 3GS without issue.

The app extension/metaphor is therefore not compromised. The 3GS customers can still spend their money happily in the app store.

Currently, the Lumias, which are the current WP Flagship handsets, and also the Nokia flagship handset, will have NO compatibility with apps made for WP8.

This break in compatibility has occurred months before any WP8 handset is available.

(Remember that the Lumia 900 has only been generally available since May 2012... it still IS the latest handset unlike the 3GS...)

Microsoft has set fire to the WP7.x platform...

Will MS have to disseminate special 'messaging' about the WP7.x and WP8 compatibility to developers too:

Will MS tell developers the following?
"Yeah we released a new WP8 SDK, but please use the WP7 SDK instead for most purposes, to allow WP7 users to use the apps".

or will it be:
"Yeah we released a new WP8 SDK, but please develop for the WP7 SDK too, if you can, to be nice to WP7 users".

or neither?



That is correct. It is not all about apps.

But it's not what you would do if you were trying to do the following:

• Improve sales of your current WP7.x handsets
• Expand your platform and third party support
• Keep your current (very fragile) userbase loyal

Would a salesperson in good conscience recommend a Lumia handset now (or any other WP7.x handset) to any customer when he knows the future of that platform?

For new handset sales, if the WP8 handsets were going to be in the shops tomorrow, then the announcement would have less impact on new WP sales, because the salesperson can push the latest version. But they can't do that because the WP8 handsets aren't on the shelves yet. (Though it would annoy customers who just bought an L900)

This is incredibly poor strategy from MS.

It is also incredibly poor strategy from Nokia to be 100% at the determination of platform control from a department of a software company who have not been successful in the field. They should have kept another horse in the race

MS are competing against Apple and Google, who are not idiots.

The customers and the salespersons are not idiots.

Customers, developers, salespersons, and carriers are all making their buying/selling/resource decisions, you have just given them all a reason NOT to buy-in.

Well done, great move.

It's almost as if every 12 months MS thinks, "that didn't seem to take hold, it's okay we'll start our real effort in the next OS release", but hey they can bankroll it.

However good WP8 is, the continuous burning of the users, manufacturers, and carriers will serve as a reminder to not jump on to the WP platform. They will not be able to escape the fact that buying into a WP8 handset will be a gamble, based on previous MS actions, therefore people are likely to buy in. The WP platform and handsets have just been flagged as 'hazardous' which is not what users want.

We've just seen that T-Mobile is cancelling its plans to sell the Lumia 900 in Germany due to the WP8 upgrade issue. All this indicates that Nokia needs an alternative OS to be able to push when their primary horse decides not to race for a while. The award winning thoroughbred N9, and future N10 and N11 handsets based on Harmattan would provide the perfect antidote.

Given that the latest WP8 debacle has caused sales projections to fall further, and the Nokia share price to drop further, this proves the single-horse strategy is wrong from a financial perspective, and must be serving some other purpose.

I realize the above is mostly obvious to most people, sorry.