Nuno Silva acknowledges Windows Phone 8 upgrade claims was a mistake

It was reported a couple of days ago that according to Microsoft developer evangelist, Nuno Silva, the upgrade to Windows Phone 8 “Apollo” would be available for all existing Windows Phone 7.5 devices. While this certainly sounded like good news for current Mango users, the rumor was quickly debunked a few hours later when an anonymous source allegedly close to Microsoft revealed that there would be no upgrade path from Mango to Apollo. While this has yet to be officially confirmed, Nuno Silva himself took to his blog where he basically acknowledges that he made a mistake regarding his Windows Phone 8 upgrade claim. Taken from his blog:

I recently participated in an interview with the Portuguese website Zwame, where I made some comments on the future of Windows Phone that created confusion. Rumors are swirling, so I feel the need to clarify my statements.

The point I was attempting to make was simply that existing Windows Phone applications will run on the next version of Windows Phone. This is the same guidance that Microsoft shared late last year.

I mistakenly confused app compatibility with phone updateability, which caused the rumors we saw yesterday.  I did not intend to give the impression I was offering new guidance on any products under development or their upgradeability.

While we have given Windows Phone developers this preliminary guidance on app compatibility to help them with long term project planning, Microsoft does not have any further news to share on future products at this time.

As always, you can tell I am very excited about Windows Phone and I hope you are too! :)

Nuno Silva

While it certainly would be great if Mango phones could be upgraded to Apollo upon its release, there have been several rumors in the past that has suggested that Mango devices would not be upgradeable to Apollo, and with Silva’s retraction of his earlier statement, it certainly does not bode well for Mango users. In any case we wouldn’t completely discount that notion just yet, so stay tuned and check back for more Windows Phone 8 news.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Microsoft, Windows Phone 8