Why did Ed Bott give up on Windows Phone

[GreyFox7]

Because the only carrier he can get a signal on wont support it.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-verizon-convinced-me-to-give-up-my-windows-phone/

In the U.S., there are four major U.S. carriers. One is clearly dominant. Verizon, in its most recent quarterly report, announced that it had passed 100 million postpaid retail subscribers. To put that number into perspective, it represents well over 40 percent of the total U.S mobile market and is roughly equal to the total postpaid subscriber count of AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile combined.

And yet Verizon's attitude to Windows Phone could charitably be described as callous.

Back in July 2014, the company released its Lumia Cyan update, a major overhaul that includes significant new features as well as the Windows Phone 8.1 Update.

That was five months ago. And yet, if you are a Verizon customer who owns a Lumia Icon today, you are probably still running the Windows Phone 8.0 release.

as long as U.S.-based carriers, including the biggest of them all, Verizon, are able to drag their feet and ignore Windows as a mobile platform, it's unlikely that anything Microsoft can do will be able to make a dent in its market share in the United States.​

Question: Is this because Verizon just doesn't care or see a market OR have they been manipulated by
deals with other vendors (i.e. Apple). Haven't we seen this type of thing in the past??? Of course we have and to be fair MS has probably been guilty of it themselves. WP may well be blackballed.

 

[leeshor]

I think it's some of both. AT&T and VZW are tied in some ways for most hated provider. VZW and AT&T have both been accused of abandoning updates for phones that just weren't all that old. It's hard to figure out all the reasons but one is because none of the updates either provide are stock from the manufacturer. The feel they MUST add their own bloatware and getting it integrated into the firmware becomes a waste of time in their mind if the existing market share for a specific phone isn't there. And neither carrier has an edge over the other in that area.

 

[jnjroach]

Verizon is known for this behavior, they've done it to Android as well. Apple won't let them as it pushes out the updates. Their Business Model has been why update when you can get them to buy a new phone with the newer software....

 

[GreyFox7]

Verizon is known for this behavior, they've done it to Android as well. Apple won't let them as it pushes out the updates. Their Business Model has been why update when you can get them to buy a new phone with the newer software....

Although their selection of 3 phones includes only one phone with WP 8.1 the HTC One M8.

 

[jnjroach]

Although their selection of 3 phones includes only one phone with WP 8.1 the HTC One M8.

But it is still newer than the Icon and HTC is much more Verizon Friendly than Microsoft....