Availability of WP7.5 apps after WP8 launch

[The Geeky Brit]

Hi Folks,
I am about to upgrade my phone with Rogers (Canada), I currently have a feature phone and REALLY want to get a Windows phone, I won't be having a data plan as everywhere I work has WiFi. My option in the $0 catergory is the Lumia 710, other options include Samsung Q with android and the HTC desire C also with Android.
I will be using this phone for 3 years.
Here is my question once Windows Phone 8 launches what is the likelyhood of developers continuing to develop for both platforms?
Thanks,
Ian

 

[Gergolos]

heya,

welcome to WPcentral

You could have tried the search option for your question first. The wp7.5(7.8) and wp8-app-availability is THE question dealing with the wp-future...

Because of this posting being your first one on this forum, I will help you anyways

So here is the result of the search for "wp7.8 wp8":

Windows Phone Search Results | wpcentral | Windows Phone News, Forums, and Reviews

The first few threads are all discussing Apprelated questions dealing with the wp future (wp7.8 vs wp8).

This quote represents pretty much my opinion, so I will just copy it from vp710

"Originally Posted by vp710
Why is it so hard to understand? I'm just going to copy paste this as I'm tired of explaining it: WP8 will come out in 6 months. It will take AT LEAST 6 months to a year for WP8 to have a userbase significant enough that a developer would consider writing an app without WP7 support. Even then, WP7.8 and WP8 apps share 90% of their codes. What do you think Android devs do regarding the 3 or 4 different OSes + tablets? Just write one version of their apps supported by the newest platform? I don't think so.

You WILL get new apps for at least the following 2 years. You may not be able to install the more power hungry games, or NFC related apps but that's it. On top of that, as long as we don't know what exactly is coming to WP7.8, there's NO reason to complain about it."

Of course nobody knows for sure how the future will look like, but I guess you will be able to use your phone for at least 2 more years with all the apps coming out for wp7.8 phones (at least the ones, which don't need NFC and all the other hardware related stuff missing on the current phones).

ps: Microsoft said, that all current phones will get the wp7.8 update. So you wont have the 7.5version for long (as long as i got it right)

Hope I could help

 

[The Geeky Brit]

Lumia 710 it is then. That's great.

 

[Gergolos]

Lumia 710 it is then. That's great.

have fun with it!

 

[1jaxstate1]

You should wait for wp8

 

[N8ter]

Yes for phones unless some restricted API is needed Android devs typically target FroYo or GB and it works since the platform is backward compatible. No different than coding for Windows.

Tablet is a different form factor so obviously other things must be taken into consideration there.

You target the least common denominator. For example Coach's Eye just ported from iOS to Android, and they ported to GB not ICS or JB. That's how intelligent devs do it.

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