Death of Windows Phone 8?

[Elrinth]

According to this article, the windows 8 phone support ends already in july 2014:
Windows Phone 8 support to end in 2014 ? The Register

If they proceed to 8.5, 9.0 etc. Do you think us Lumia 920 users will be left out?

What are your thoughts about this?

 

[Nabkawe5]

I don't want to be optimistic , But I think 8.5 is going to be a major change and thus supporting a 8.0/7.0/7.5 will be pointless.
I think MS is killing its user base once again though.

 

[Simon Tupper]

I highly doubt, but feel free to believe whatever you want.

 

[Idiocracy_izruts]

Support for that concrete version is up to 2014, but all the phones who run WP8 will be upgradeable to the new version e.g. 8.5, 9 or whatever, and those versions will have 18 months of support on their own, so read before you declare something that would mean suicide for Microsoft. How do you read such articles and believe that a company of that size will go ahead with such an impossibly stupid decision ?

 

[anon(5344685)]

...and I say: whatever.

 

[BenGutt]

I used to have respect for the register, but over the last few years they've become the daily mail of the web world. I wouldn't trust any of the sensationalist things they publish now.

 

[Devamps]

WP 32-bit is good till WP 64-bit!

Windows Phone ARMv7 hardware is 32-bit, 18 months from now new ARMv8 hardware is 64-bit!

64-bit Smartphone is coming!

Then the death of all 32-bit Smartphone's will happen.

 

[GStr]

Maybe Microsoft will drop suport for WP8, but I believe that all WP8 devices will be upgradable to WP8.5 or WP9. And that's enough for me. More than enough.

Look at WP7. I know many people for whom WP7 features are more than enough. Upgrade for WP7.8 was a bonus from their point of view. Smartphones are not for geeks anymore, who are spending days on browsing geek portals for information about any new feature. Most of those people use only minor set of features (but everyone different).

One of major missing feature in WP7 was lack of Skype integration. Question is what will MS do with built-in Messenger when dropping support for it. It is possible that WP7 devices WILL get background Skype.

 

[Devamps]

For me too.

Maybe Microsoft will drop suport for WP8, but I believe that all WP8 devices will be upgradable to WP8.5 or WP9. And that's enough for me. More than enough.

Look at WP7. I know many people for whom WP7 features are more than enough. Upgrade for WP7.8 was a bonus from their point of view. Smartphones are not for geeks anymore, who are spending days on browsing geek portals for information about any new feature. Most of those people use only minor set of features (but everyone different).

One of major missing feature in WP7 was lack of Skype integration. Question is what will MS do with built-in Messenger when dropping support for it. It is possible that WP7 devices WILL get background Skype.

 

[csd_images]

Why would the WP 8 phones be left out, there's been a lot of FUD on the web the last few days with people trying to be sensationalist over MS dropping WP 8. Simple put this is normal practice for MS in that Win 7 is reaching mainstream EOL but does that mean that Win 7 is dead? No, simply put they are now forcing people to move on to Win 7 SP1. This is how they work, so you're getting about 36 months of support for all WP8 devices as they're all upgradeable (with usual caveats) to WP 9.

It may seem counter-intuitive but MS has always worked this way, and people jump on it to try and make hay. This is not about killing user base it's about allocating resources to where they are best needed.

Also consider the average lifespan of a mobile device is about 24 months compared to a desktop which is 36-48months.

 

[Devamps]

This.

Why would the WP 8 phones be left out, there's been a lot of FUD on the web the last few days with people trying to be sensationalist over MS dropping WP 8. Simple put this is normal practice for MS in that Win 7 is reaching mainstream EOL but does that mean that Win 7 is dead? No, simply put they are now forcing people to move on to Win 7 SP1. This is how they work, so you're getting about 36 months of support for all WP8 devices as they're all upgradeable (with usual caveats) to WP 9.

It may seem counter-intuitive but MS has always worked this way, and people jump on it to try and make hay. This is not about killing user base it's about allocating resources to where they are best needed.

Also consider the average lifespan of a mobile device is about 24 months compared to a desktop which is 36-48months.

 

[how1ard]

Pointless discussion, they either will or they won't.

 

[rdubmu]

I hope Microsoft really supports their phones longer... My Titan 2 hasn't received any updates and was EOL within 6 months. My iPhone 3gs has four years of support and still supported. Finally, I hope my Lumia 920, gets at least 2-3 years support. Honestly, if Microsoft pulls another wm6.5 /=\ wp7 /=\ wp8 /=\ wp9.

I am probably done with this platform.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[astraith]

WP 32-bit is good till WP 64-bit!Windows Phone ARMv7 hardware is 32-bit, 18 months from now new ARMv8 hardware is 64-bit!64-bit Smartphone is coming!Then the death of all 32-bit Smartphone's will happen.

Just like they do for desktop, WP 9.0 (which probably will support the 64 bit SoC) will support both 32 bit and 64 bit. 9.5 maybe not, but as long as 9.0 32 bit gets bug and security updates, it really wouldn't matter.

 

[Ben Lehtovaara]

Interesting. I wonder what will happen when they choose to put intel chips in smartphones. I think ARM will fade away eventually.

Also, I wish MS wouldnt announce stuff like this. If you read into it, the announcment is perfectly normaly but it reads to the average consumer as "MS recognizes WP8 is dying and will drop support". They immediately compare to apple and say, wow Appple still supports the iPhone 3GS.

 

[Rich White]

The iPhone 3G is a typical upgrade cycle for phones. It shipped with iOS 2.0 in 2008 and got one complete upgrade a year later to iOS 3.0 in 2009.
2 years after release it got a limited feature set from iOS 4.0 in 2010. It will get no further upgrades. A major, a minor and two years after release it was done. Accessories bought for the 3G can't be used for the iPhone 5 due to a pin change. The original iPad was released with iOS 3 and will not see iOS 6. It saw two upgrades (24 months) to the iOS.

I expect to see 8.5 (Blue) and some features from 9 (8.9).

When the Intel 64-bit chips become the backbone then there will be some stability. Not until then. These things are poor investments. It' s like 1995 in PCs all over again. The shelf life of a firefly

 

[Devamps]

Just like they do for desktop, WP 9.0 (which probably will support the 64 bit SoC) will support both 32 bit and 64 bit. 9.5 maybe not, but as long as 9.0 32 bit gets bug and security updates, it really wouldn't matter.

That's a fact.

 

[gsquared]

Pointless discussion, they either will or they won't.

I agree 100%. It baffles me to why some people site around and worry about things like this.

 

[Jazmac]

Death? Amazing. Just because official support for a device might be going away simply as a result of advancing technology, doesn't mean the phone ceases to work. Windows Phone 8 at some point will age and be replaced by WP 9, and then, surprisingly enough, WP 10. If by the time Windows Phone 9 arrives you are still using WP 7.5 then like many still using Windows XP, you don't need anything better. If it still works, it ain't dead.

 

[Gungzwei]

My Zune 30 is still working the same as it did in 2005, so I wouldn't worry about the end of support.

For Microsoft, it just means that there won't be any development resources committed to creating new features. The way it works now will continue to work for a long time.