Natasha Lomas from C|Net UK recently had a chance to sit down and talk to Greg Sullivan, Microsoft’s Senior Product Manager for Windows Phone. During their conversation he dropped a nugget of knowledge that can not be ignored. He admitted that work on Windows Phone 8 started before Windows Phone 7 devices even hit the market in October 2010. In fact, he goes so far as to say Microsoft’s desire to make a mobile operating system based on the full blown Windows kernel “was always the plan”.
To those of you who thought that Nokia decided to release Windows Phone 7.5 devices thinking that they’d get upgraded to Windows Phone 8, we’re sorry to say this, but it looks like Nokia knew what they were getting themselves into all along. Instead of selling Symbian and Maemo/MeeGo devices for another 12 months while Microsoft was toiling away on Windows Phone 8, Nokia instead decided to shoot themselves in the foot. Twice.
First they announced that Symbian would be killed; this was back in February 2011. That bone headed premature obituary made potential Nokia customers delay their purchase until a Nokia handset running Windows Phone hit the market. That happened nine months later, in November, with the Lumia 800 in the UK. Second, Microsoft dropped a bombshell when they announced Windows Phone 8 last month. If you were someone who was patient enough to wait for the Nokia Lumia, then bad news. You aren’t going to get updated to the latest version of the OS. Considering that the Lumia 900 went on sale in the United States in April, that means a phone that’s less than three months old has effectively been put on life support.
Like we said earlier, we don’t know why Nokia didn’t do the adult thing and just wait. They could have promoted the N9 and all their respective Symbian devices for another year and then they could have surprised us all this summer with a formal announcement that they’re going with Windows Phone.
Instead, they decided to break our hearts. Not once, but two times.