I recently picked up a HTC HD2 from T-Mobile. While I was very concerned about not being able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7, I’m not sure others are.
It seems, T-Mobile is having difficulty keeping this phone in stock. Originally I thought it was because of a limited supply. Since Microsoft has already stated that there will be no upgrade. The reason given was the requirements on the hardware standard of 3 buttons–Start, back, and search.
I’m not so sure the average phone buyer thinks or cares about this up front when purchasing a phone. As bad as Windows Mobile 6.5 is, there may be some reasons to stay on 6.5. The following features will not be available on Windows Phone 7.
- Copy and Paste – “People don’t do that” according to Microsoft.
- Multitasking is restricted to one third-party application at a time
- No backward compatibility support for Windows Mobile Applications
Most vendors have been good about upgrading compared to years ago when you bought a device and 4 months later put it in the drawer with the other obsolete hardware. Users have become accustom to getting at least one upgrade from their current version after purchase.
I think the big question will be is Windows 7 compelling enough to get users who are buying this device to switch?
