U.S. Cellular long ago confirmed plans to eventually release a Windows Phone 8 device on its network. A recent comment made by the carrier on its Facebook page suggests the first one is finally on its way.
After posting a photo of a Samsung phone on the page, a Facebook user simply commented on the photo with the message “Get Windows Phone.” About 30 minutes later, U.S. Cellular responded confirming that it is “working on the launch of a Windows 8 device.” For all intents and purposes, I think it’s safe to assume U.S. Cellular meant Windows Phone 8.
The comment came from Liz of the carrier’s Social Team. She continues, “We do not have information that we can share quite yet on the timing or the device details. We hope to have more information to share in the next month, stay tuned, we will announce it here on Facebook first.” Rumor has it the model of the first Windows Phone 8 phone to hit U.S. Cellular is the Samsung SCH-R860U, which cleared the FCC a few weeks ago.
The carrier first expressed interest in adding Windows Phone 8 devices to its lineup in July 2012, stating that Windows Phone 8 “will be an important part of our device lineup going forward.” It has yet to act upon that, though we might see a change by the end of May.