stmav
Retired Moderator
Unfortunately looks like no relief in sight for those poor Sprint customers. Which is why I will be an ex-customer when up next month. Perfect timing.
P.A. has been extremely reliable on roadmaps. I have no idea where they get the inside info on these, because they usually just have threads based off other sites info (they get a ton of stuff from our Mobile Nations, for example). However, they just seem to get carriers and manufacturers release dates nearly spot on.I startled my fellow co-workers after reading this, with a "**** YEAH!". Too funny.
Question: How accurate/reliable is Phone Arena with their news?
Unfortunately looks like no relief in sight for those poor Sprint customers. Which is why I will be an ex-customer when up next month. Perfect timing.
Unfortunately looks like no relief in sight for those poor Sprint customers. Which is why I will be an ex-customer when up next month. Perfect timing.
Getting all three flagships on Verizon is huge. Verizon is the largest carrier for a good reason - they have far and away the biggest network footprint and the most robust network (probably because every year they put more money into network infrastructure than anyone else). Lack of Verizon exposure has been a big blocker to Windows Phone.
Strategically, I suspect both Verizon and AT&T are wanting some leverage against Apple to get their ridiculous cost per unit they charge the carriers down. A successful Windows Phone 8 alongside Android gives them that leverage.
Verizon is less keen on Android right now. They like it, but it costs them a lot in support issues. There are more service issues with the phones and more support needs due to fragmentation. They also have to take a more active role in rolling out updates and configuring those updates with carriers. WP8 removes that issue for them and the higher end devices usually mean less service call issues.
When WP7 was rolling out, they didn't realize some of the issues with Android. The carriers initially liked the control they had until they saw the cost.
It really is beginning to be the same with the phone makers too. MS may make it so it is cheaper for Samsung to license WP8 for a phone than paying patent fees to MS for Android. Since MS will get a cut from the WP Store, this makes sense. MS also offers protection against Apple.
Windows Phone can be the happy medium between the chaos of Android and the totalitarian approach of iOS. Carriers and manufacturers can partner with someone with decades of experience with OSes, a company that has some of the best software engineers in the biz with a big name.
My friend at VZW in corporate sales has gotten the distinct impression that Verizon's goal is to have Windows Phone be their flagship smartphone within the next two years. MS sold them the benefits against the costs of Android and iPhone - Verizon is ALL IN.
Word is that AT&T is too. If the big carriers and the manufacturers decide to back WP8 in a big way then the stage is set for big growth over the next few years.
And HTC showed that not only Nokia has come to play - and that MS is willing to work closely with the OEMs. I think we'll see Samsung's next gen WP8 device be more special after the Apple lawsuit has sunk in more. The ATIV S came from before that hit. Let's see if Samsung pulls out the stops like HTC. We also may see LG wanting to come back into the fold - and Sony is keeping their options open.
I think RIM is going to regret that they didn't take MS' offer to become a WP8 manufacturer.
Pretty Likely that Samsung is advertising the Phone. They are clearly advertising it with the Ativ Series Tablets with the phone as well. I think Samsung will gladly advertise their phone.
Pretty Likely that Samsung is advertising the Phone. They are clearly advertising it with the Ativ Series Tablets with the phone as well. I think Samsung will gladly advertise their phone.
I don't doubt that they will. But will they do something different for WP8 in the future? I have no doubt that Samsung wants the ATIV S to sell and they did a great job advertizing the S3.
Clearly with WP8, a signature feature we're seeing with Nokia and HTC is color. I'll be interested to see what Huawei does. I think we may find that Samsung will decide in the future to design some WP8 exclusives that aren't rebadged Android phones, basically. The ATIV designs were done before the Apple ruling. Will be interested to see how their approach to WP8 changes when we see their next WP8 devices. My gut says that Samsung may begin to put more effort in on that end than on the Android end.
I went in to a Verizon store over the weekend and was actually a bit startled. This store was huge, it took the place of an old Hollywood Video store that stood alone in a strip mall. They had all sorts of android phones. iPhone had an entire area devoted to it. They only had 1 windows phone on display (the trophy of course). And, it was in a bit of a hidden area, I would have never thought to look in that area had I not been on a mission. Granted though, there aren't too many WP devices available, but there were absolutely no Nokia devices, only 1 HTC.This is good news even for people not on Verizon. It means that the 920 is not an AT&T exclusive, which means Nokia will be willing to make the phone available to other carriers who make the commitment.
The Nokia Lumia name has more name recognition than Windows Phone itself, so having the Lumia 920 on most carriers is good for everyone. Everyday consumers may walk in to look at it and decide they like the more compact-and-lightweight 8X more...but without it there, they may not even think to look at Windows Phone.