Windows Phone 8.1, expected to launch in the spring, will be
backwards compatible to Windows Phone 8.0, contrary to some earlier reports
from industry sources, a Microsoft official told Computerworld today.
That means that smartphones running Windows Phone 8.0 will be able
to run the updated version, assuming that the user's wireless carrier has
distributed the 8.1 update to its customers.
"We will not have the same experience as we had when Windows
Phone 7 was upgraded to Windows Phone 8," Greg Sullivan, Windows Phone
director of public relations at Microsoft, said in an interview Wednesday at
the International CES show here.
Users of Windows Phone 7 devices were upset that they could not
upgrade their devices to Windows Phone 8, or WP8, when it was unveiled more
than a year ago. Sullivan said that unlike Windows 7, WP8 is a "powerful
OS" that can support upgrades. "We won't run out of head space on
Windows Phone 8 any time soon," he said.
Microsoft has a policy of supporting updates for 36 months on a
device, Sullivan said.
In late October, officials at three software vendors that work with
Windows Phone products told Computerworld they were worried that WP8-based
smartphones may not be upgradeable to the 8.1 version. They based their
concerns partly on price cuts for Windows Phone 8 smartphones made by Nokia,
Samsung and others, and slower than expected sales of such devices.
At the time, Microsoft wouldn't comment on its upgrade plans,
though Nokia indicated that its Lumia 1020 and Lumia 520 smartphones would
indeed be upgradeable to 8.1.
Microsoft hasn't indicated when it will release 8.1, but many
analysts believe it will be released in the spring time frame.
Microsoft is in the final stages of acquiring the device business
of Nokia and seems prepared to continue using the Nokia name on some
smartphones. "We will have the license for the Nokia name," Sullivan
said.
Microsoft expects to continue Nokia's focus on using smartphone
cameras with high-quality imaging technology such as the Lumia 1020 with a 41
megapixel camera, he added.
Following Intel's unveiling here of a dual Windows 8.1 and Android
processor for tablets and computers, Sullivan said it's unlikely that Microsoft
will support a dual OS. "A dual OS creates a lot of complexity for
users," he said. It's not clear whether he was referring to just Windows
Phone devices or also to tablets.
Following reports that Microsoft wants to reduce the number of
operating systems it offers, Sullivan said "it's important to support
both" Windows RT 8.1 for ARM-based devices and Windows 8.1 for Intel-based
devices. The debate at Microsoft is whether it will continue "Windows
Phone or Windows RT -- that's the question," Sullivan said.
ARM-based chips are used in nearly every smartphone in the world,
including Windows Phone smartphones.
