Laura Knotek
Retired Moderator
Where Windows Phone needs Windows 8 is it's name and power as a brand. The Windows PC userbase is far beyond any OS, desktop or mobile. Windows 8 will be the first time many people will see or use the metro UI. More people are going to use metro for the first time on Windows 8 than they will on WP. That is why Windows 8 is important for WP, as it introduces the metro UI to the masses. When people get a taste of Windows 8 metro UI, they will be familiar with it when they see Windows Phone. WP OS will not be as foreign to them as it is now. Plus when they see how well integrated WP is with Microsoft services, it can help push Windows Phone devices. It's all about getting the metro UI to as many people as possible, then lure them in to the rest of the ecosystem
That makes sense.
However, I am not sure how many average users will bother buying new PCs or bother buying Windows 8 for the desktop.
For example, I have a friend who basically just uses his desktop PC to surf the web and send emails. He is still running XP. I do not see him updating to Win8 or buying a new PC, since he had no interest in Vista or 7. He chose the downgrade from Vista to XP option when he bought his PC 3 years ago.