This thread simply demonstrates why Microsoft is facing an uphill battle making windows Phone relevant. Anyone who is on page 78 of the denim thread is a loyal Microsoft customer. Overly loyal, perhaps, but clearly the folks that Microsoft needs to have in their camp. This is the most diehard band of folks left on the platform. We invested in the flagship phone, the Icon, and expected that we would be treated as such. Granted, Windows Phone is a niche product at the moment, but so is a Land Rover. Land Rovers will probably never reach a dominant market share, but they know how to treat their customers. If you are buying a high-end Range Rover, you are moved to the front of the line.
Now before folks get on me about the flaws in this analogy, I do understand that Verizon adds another layer of complexity. That said, Verizon is a major US carrier, and for where I live their coverage is vastly superior to ATT and Sprint. It's simply not an option to ignore that fact.
That said, the majority of defections from this loyal group are not jumping carriers, they are jumping to iOS and Android. When someone posts that they just switched to an HTC product, of all things, you know morale is at a major low.
This phone has an excellent build quality and at the time of its release had all the product specs to be a true flagship phone. What it lacks is manufacturer support - to include twisting the carrier's arm about updates, or if impossible, being forthright in communicating where the delays lie.
On 8.1, this is the best phone I have ever owned. On 8.0, the user experience is completely lacking. Unfortunately, the official carrier version of the Icon is still 8.0. What's more, without Cyan, which we never got, we don't have Miracast support or Bluetooth LE. Without denim, we don't have hey Cortana or the new camera app.
Most of all, though, we don't have any response from Microsoft. I don't believe there is anything wrong with this phone (other than a seriously undersized battery, which was a design compromise and which I knew was too small from reading the product specs before I purchased my Icon). Still, folks here have nothing but silence to speculate upon. Be real, Microsoft. Acknowledge that your most loyal customers have been left in the dark and illuminate us as to what is causing a 10-month delay in promised firmware updates. Even to say that the Cyan update should not have been announced until it was ready would have been something. But remember, the best windows phone sales force you have is on this thread. We are the people that other people come to and ask about phones. Not one of us can recommend a windows phone to anyone right now. But we want to. We really want to believe that denim will right all wrongs and get us caught up and that Verizon will start promoting WP again. Please don't wait until this thread ends with a page of folks posting that they got the iPhone 6 or the HTC, especially so they could get access to better versions of Office than we can get on WP. The current state of affairs is dire.
If you've already written off the US market for WP so be it - just please give us the courtesy of telling us.