Microsoft Reassures Users: Windows Phone 8 Devices Are Upgradeable

When Microsoft revealed Windows Phone 7 devices would not be capable of receiving an upgrade, many customers were quite unhappy. Thankfully, Microsoft learned a lesson and doesn't intend to repeat this policy with Windows Phone 8.

Greg Sullivan, a senior marketing manager at Microsoft, recently confirmed to PC Magazine that the company has an upgrade path for Windows Phone 8 devices moving forward. He also suggested Microsoft's current mobile OS is powerful enough to adopt to new hardware components.

“Windows Phone 8 can evolve. We have an architecture that enables portability and is fundamentally hardware independent,” he said. “As the market evolves and customer requirements demand it, we’ll evaluate options.”

Instead of announcing the next version of Windows Phone at Mobile World Congress and taking advantage of the buzz surrounding the show, Microsoft has developed a new policy. As Sullivan put it, the company now has a "shut up and ship" philosophy. In other words, Microsoft doesn't plan to announce a new version of Windows Phone months before it's ready to ship. The next version of Windows Phone 8 is rumored to be codenamed Windows Phone Blue.

Although we didn't see any formal announcements from Microsoft at Mobile World Congress this year, Sullivan suggested there are exciting new devices and greater interoperability coming in the future.

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer grew up around technology. From an early age, she was curious about all things related to computers. As a child, Jennifer remembers spending nights with her dad programming in BASIC and taking apart hard drives to see what was inside. In high school, she wrote her senior term paper on her experiences with building custom computers.

Jennifer graduated from the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. After college, she began writing full-time for various PC and technology magazines. Later, she transitioned to the Web. In these roles, Jennifer has covered a variety of topics including laptops, desktops, smartphones, cameras, tablets, and various consumer electronics devices. When she's not playing with or writing about the latest gadget, Jennifer loves to spend time with her family, capture memories with her camera, and scrapbook.

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