Verizon is really pushing WP8 even if you don't feel it walking into a retail store. The phones are everywhere internally, have literally been forced on the management team (all store managers have 822s and all district managers have 8Xs) to break the superstition, and there HAS to be a minimum of 4 sales reps carrying Windows phones in the stores now. Its a big deal.
My old store manager made fun of me all the time for carrying a Trophy and was pissed when they handed her a Lumia. Now she loves it and doesn't miss her iPhone a bit. My old DM says his 8X is "alright" but he's a massive Apple ****** so its still progress.
The overall internal rresponse has been tremendous but its a work in progress. Especially training the Alltel employees that Windows Phone does not = the Moto Q9C
It pays to remember for all of us that this is a LONG TERM fight. Android was not great when VZW first picked it up and certainly when others did too. It's still not great, IMO, but momentum built over time.
People aren't going to run out and buy a WP8 device immediately, not en masse. But the year over year increase and awareness is huge. More people are aware of the platform and as more people get them, more will be interested and consider them for their next phone.
MS hasn't perfected things either. They need better syncing tools and to improve things on the OS itself, but the core is exceptional and the core userbase is larger than it has ever been.
Having VZW as a partner in the US is huge because they are far more into it than they were when the Trophy launched. That was an afterthought. This is not - as you can tell from the VZW logo embedded in the WP8 start screen.
My biggest concern right now is that HTC may not be entirely happy because I doubt the 8X is selling well in comparison to the 810, 820, 822, and 920. Nokia did a good job delivering value while HTC designed a very nice phone, but how many people will buy them at that price with only 16GB and no expandability? I know that the 822 at $49.99 is far more appealing - so that's what I bought.
The gray is stunning, btw.