Windows 8.1 on October 17th?

[dayoungtx]

So, I keep hearing rumors that Microsoft is releasing 8.1 across all platforms on the 17th. Has anyone else heard this? Do we know if that includes mobile devices or is this just for computers and tablets? Love to get more detail... .

 

[foxbat121]

No mobile devices. It's the desktop Windows 8.1 (including RT).

 

[dayoungtx]

Any timeline for phones yet?

 

[azcruz]

You must mean Windows Phone 8.1, and the rumours suggest Q1 2014.

 

[foxbat121]

^^^ What he said. Windows Phone 8.1 has no direct relationship with the release of Windows 8.1. Two are developed by different groups inside Microsoft.

 

[ZenBot]

You must mean Windows Phone 8.1, and the rumours suggest Q1 2014.

It was either WPCentral or WMPoweruser that pointed out that Microsoft's Q1 2014 fiscal year has already started. A company wouldn't have different calenders for product release & for earnings would they?

I'm so confused.... I thought it was WP8 GDR3 in Nov '13, WP8.1 Dec '13/Jan '14, and Windows 8.1 Q1 2014.
So, I'm really baffled that W8.1 pre-orders are up and Oct. Shipping/Updates are happening.

and yeah, I see that it doesn't make any sense to have the GDR3 and WP8.1 updates so close together...but then again the Lumia 1020 release pushed the GDR2/Amber update forward. I think new initiatives are messing with 12-16 month old release roadmaps.

 

[foxbat121]

You get it all wrong. Windows 8.1 was on public preview since June 2013 and has gone gold since August. Many of us MSDN subscribers already have the final versions of Windows 8.1. But Microsoft will wait until Oct 17 to officially release 8.1.

GDR3 will probably shipped with new 1080p phones in holiday seasons. There is no mention of when existing phones will receive that. Probably early 2014. Windows Phone 8.1 is probably still too far off because Microsoft needs something more radical to attract market attention.

 

[Divair]

Any timeline for phones yet?

I suspect it'll be announced later this month when Nokia goes crazy with announcing loads of stuff.

 

[ZenBot]

You get it all wrong. Windows 8.1 was on public preview since June 2013 and has gone gold since August. Many of us MSDN subscribers already have the final versions of Windows 8.1. But Microsoft will wait until Oct 17 to officially release 8.1.

GDR3 will probably shipped with new 1080p phones in holiday seasons. There is no mention of when existing phones will receive that. Probably early 2014. Windows Phone 8.1 is probably still too far off because Microsoft needs something more radical to attract market attention.

That's all a bit vague. I'm sure MS would prefer to maintain "Version" parity on all their lead devices just to avoid consumer/commercial confusion. So if 8.1 is about to land on PC, it must be at least getting close on WP.

I've got a feeling that MS is busting their buns to bump GDR3 up to a full 8.1 update and have it passed on to OEMs/Carriers by Christmas. That's the kind of nimble footwork that I feel is required to get people signed-up at stores, and to keep the wavering segment of the user-base on-board.

 

[gab1972]

Obligatory "when can we expect a phone update even though we just got an update" comment.

 

[fdalbor]

Truth be, more than 40% of people have never gotten GDR2. And while my BELOVED (!!!!!!!!!!!) AT&T is one of the main culprits there are a lot of other carriers that have not pushed it out either. I just hope we get a couple of updates before they shovel dirt in my face.

 

[ZenBot]

I would suspect that, at this point, a lot of users are going to make the jump straight to to GDR3/8.1. I'm under the assumption that these are all cumulative updates and GDR2 is not a prerequisite for newer releases.

Maybe, with BlackBerry having mostly thrown in the towel, we'll see more shelf space and attention from carriers. That can only be good.

 

[foxbat121]

I've got a feeling that MS is busting their buns to bump GDR3 up to a full 8.1 update and have it passed on to OEMs/Carriers by Christmas. That's the kind of nimble footwork that I feel is required to get people signed-up at stores, and to keep the wavering segment of the user-base on-board.

There is no doubt that MS wish to achieve that but reality is they historically never really invested enough resources to advance the mobile platform. WP8 OS only contains about less 1/10 th of the features and capabilities of the original Windows 8 API wise. Not to mention Windows 8.1. You can name GDR3 as 8.1 all you want, but without actual feature set to stand out, it would not help WP8 to gain market share at all. We need:
* unified store like Android and iOS
* unified API and dev environment so that apps can be easily created for both Win8 and WP8.
* break out of the Windows Mobile box that is limiting WP7 and currently WP8's capability. Adopt more Win8 features like uniform share and search capabilities.