Microsoft Corporation said in a blog post that they are planning to cut down on bulk publishing and “spam” apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace this week. Microsoft senior director of the marketplace Todd Brix has outlined some of the efforts they will take to cut down on spam apps.
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Looks like we spoke too soon about the Windows Phone 7 handsets being upgraded to Windows Phone 8. Even though Microsoft evangelist Nuno Silva said that the upgrades are happening, the Windows Phone team actually does not know if they will. Sources with ZDNet and The Verge said that the older handsets will stay at pre-Apollo versions. Microsoft is currently being silent on the issue. If there’s anything that we have learned from Apple, silence can be golden sometimes when it comes to announcing mobile software updates up until its official.
If you have a Windows Phone 7 handset and you want to get your hands on to Windows Phone 8, you are in luck. Microsoft Evangelist Nuno Silva confirmed that current Windows Phone 7 smartphones will receive the Windows Phone 8 upgrade. Below is the Q&A between Silva and Portuguese mobile form Zwame:
Q: In terms of devices, who today have one is it expectable that…
A: What Microsoft said/stated and what I’m allowed to tell you is that all actual devices will get upgrade to the next major version of Windows Phone (we´re talking about Apollo)
Q: When you say actual devices. Are all that came out to market?
A: Are all that came out. Since the first generation that were bought. The LGs and SAMSUNGs.. OMNIA 7 which were the first devices with Windows Phone reaching the market.
European phone carriers are not holding back when sharing their opinion about Windows Phone versus Android. Reuters has interviewed the four major European telecom companies and all of them have reported not being satisfied with the range of Lumia handsets. The companies described Windows Phone devices as being overpriced because of their lack of real innovation. They also said that the phones are glitchy due to early battery life issues and is not supported enough by Nokia’s own marketing. One executive said that no one comes into the stores and asks for a Windows Phone. “If the Lumia with the same hardware came with Android in it and not Windows, it would be much easier to sell” said the executive.
The Nokia Lumia 610 will be the first Windows Phone smartphone to be powered by NFC. The announcement was made at WIMA. The Lumia 610 will support Visa and MasterCard. and it looks similar to the Lumia 710. The 610 will include 256MB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage. Orange will be the first phone company to get their hands on the device. [Nokia Conversations]
Microsoft has had to deal with a backlash they received after denying a user won a Windows Phone challenge, but was not given a reward. Sahas Katta won the “Smoked By Windows Phone” challenge when his Galaxy Nexus displayed the weather of 2 different cities faster than the Windows Phone. However the Microsoft store claimed that he had to show weather from 2 different states. Windows Phone evangelist Ben Rudolph apologized on Twitter and offered Katta a new laptop and Windows Phone. Rudolph even offered a rematch for Katta. [The Verge]
Those of you that are curious about what direction Microsoft Windows Phone in terms of their mobile operating system is headed will appreciate this slide. Windows Phone Mango was released in Q4 2011 with new features, new languages, and new countries. The next major update will be “Tango,” which will be released in Q2 2012 and it will feature products with the best prices, but not that many new features. However when the “Apollo” update in Q4 2012 is released, we will see high-end super phones likely with dual core processors and HD screens. [wmpoweruser]
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) expects the production costs of handsets that uses Windows Phone 7 software to drop by over half next year. Qualcomm Inc. will allow phones that run on the Windows Phone 7 operating system to be produced for under $200. This is a substantial drop from the $400 manufacturing cost from when the mobile operating system was introduced last year. This announcement was made by Windows Phone head Andy Lees. Microsoft works exclusively with Qualcomm for chip development. [BusinessWeek]
