Windows Phone 7: the app gap was survivable; the guillotine wasn't
Windows Phone 8 announcement left Windows Phone 7 handsets without an upgrade path
The market's verdict: -2.2% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
In June 2012, Microsoft announced that Windows Phone 8 would not run on any then-existing Windows Phone 7.5 handset, including phones that had been in stores for only a few months. Early adopters got a partial visual refresh called 7.8 and a firsthand lesson in platform loyalty economics. Sales of Windows Phone 8 devices to those same people went exactly as well as you would expect.
This one is officially acknowledged.
They did it more than once
First the handsets, then the whole platform. Windows Phone fans attended two funerals.
Kin buyers got 48 days; Windows Phone 7 buyers got two years. The upgrade path was always the exit.
Links
↳ caused by Windows Phone 8 platform announcement
Timeline
- Jun 20, 2012 Stood by it Microsoft stood by it.