There is no legit reason why WP8 couldn't run on the older hardware, but there were issues in the upgrade so MS cut them off. Hackers have successfully done it though. I suspect the same thing will be true. It will run the newer OS, but will there be an upgrade path? That is the question and there is no answer for it currently. Any answer is speculation. There is a high degree of probability that it will upgrade, but its speculation. Also what about the Nokia 810? T-Mo already abandoned it and Nokia has as well as a result. With that said it runs DP just fine.