Windows Phone 7 will live on even after Windows 8 goes on sale, Nokia senior vice president Kevin Shields said today. Whether it's through existing Lumia 900 devices or even potential new models, the move to Windows Phone 8 won't be a sudden break.
"We're going to keep investing in Windows Phone 7 and continuing to grow the Windows Phone ecosystem for quite some time," Shields said. "I expect application providers to release apps that run on both Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8."
Shields stopped just short of promising that Nokia would use Windows Phone 7 as the OS for the low-cost Windows Phones that Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop, promises for emerging markets. But the hinting was pretty intense.
"We don't talk about unannounced products. We see Windows Phone 7 as a pretty important part of investing in Windows Phone, and we're really enthusiastic about Windows Phone 8 and what it unlocks in terms of hardware innovation," he said.
Nokia is walking a tightrope here. As we discovered today, Windows Phone 8 is a radical reboot of Microsoft's OS to support more powerful processors, higher-res screens and greater compatibility with Windows 8. But Nokia is currently selling the Lumia 900, which won't get a Windows Phone 8 upgrade - it'll only go to "Windows Phone 7.8," which improves the phone's start screen but doesn't include new APIs for more powerful apps.
"The Lumia 900 is a great value, and innovation is going to be coming to it for quite some time," Shields said. "In the short to medium term, an application developer will have a really easy time developing and delivering experiences that with well on both 7 and 8," he said.
Microsoft borrowed Nokia's maps for Windows Phone 8, but Nokia will still be able to offer better experiences than other phone makers, even in navigation, Shields said.
"We've got a lot of creativity and investment beyond simple navigation," Shields said.
One much-anticipated feature is PureView, Nokia's pixel-merging, up-to-41-megapixel camera technology. But Shields shied away from saying PureView requires Windows Phone 8.
"We're certainly investing deeply in PureView and we fully intend to bring it to Windows Phone … [but] there's not much of a story to be told in respect to Windows Phone 8 and PureView," Shields said.
Microsoft said Nokia would build Windows Phone 8 devices, but Nokia doesn't have anything to show quite yet, Shields said.
"Stay tuned. We have some things up our sleeves that we think you'll definitely see up the ante," Shields said.
The first Windows Phone 8 devices are expected to come this fall. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless have all confirmed that they'll carry Windows Phone 8.