A story recently ran on the site Daily Mobile—a site which we are not familiar with—claiming that Windows Phone 8 devices on Verizon are running into problems, potentially causing a launch delay or even cancelation. We’ve been tipped on this by quite a few readers asking us to weigh in on the matter. After all the story does seem a bit sensational, bordering on hysteria.
First off, we know for a fact that the Nokia Lumia 822 aka Atlas is in active testing for the carrier with photos of the device having been leaked and even feedback from one of Verizon’s employees on the device. That should tell you something right there.
But according to Daily Mobile, they claim
“Windows Phone 8 software will not allow Verizon proper device management. Verizon phones are required to be able to be accessed remotely for provisioning purposes and such. Apparently WP8 phones do not meet that requirement so Verizon can not use any WP8 phones in its current state. This matter is so serious that if this remote access is not granted the devices can enter a state, albeit rare, that they stop responding to certain systems on the Verizon network.”
While we don’t know Daily Mobile's source, the information given to them is at least specific for once (as opposed to many rumors that we’re tipped on). But is there any truth to it? Turns out there may be.
We have heard via a few sources that a similar issue occurred with Windows Phone 7 and Verizon and that this request is for OS level changes. Of course today consumers can buy the HTC Trophy on Verizon meaning any problem that existed did get resolved. But evidently with Windows Phone 8, they may still need to be worked out.
Truth be told, Verizon has not announced any devices nor release dates for Windows Phone 8, so any talk of “delays” is a bit premature we think. Having said that there certainly can be issues like the one described above preventing a timely release of Verizon’s Windows Phone 8 lineup. The detail of the claim (and some information we received) does lend some creditability to the story but we’re not prepared to call it out as a big problem just yet.
We’ll of course keep digging for more details but for now, we suggest we let some of those major dates e.g. October 21st and October 29th pass by first before throwing the alarm bells.
Source: Daily Mobile
