1 - Annoucing lots of hardware partners that people know well and probably like means that people will hold off on buying a new phone/agreement.

2 - Getting people interested early means that you have more demand and a high number of customers interested in the product at launch. More sales during launch week, more PR spin etc.

3 - How much "profit" is there really in it for MS to release a ROM for older handsets? How many ROM downloaders would pay for it, and what would the network and handset makers say?

I have tried putting ROMs on older phones and while they worked the new OS's were slower because they expected more RAM etc.

So why would MS make a ROM available, and for which handset models and manufacturers?

Development, testing etc all cost money. Would you really pay £500, £1,000 or more per handset for a ROM?

How many days per phone would developers need to code at a minimum of £250/day?

How many days testing per phone model?

Spread those costs over a very small number of ROM downloaders and I doubt any would pay the costs.

That's why it will be made for new tech. And it's the best way for us all. The demand spreads the costs. The new tech allows for more powerful features. We are all winners.

To sit back and stick bodged ROMs on old hardware will not make you rich, it will not pay your wages and it will not pay for a nice holiday. Instead it will make you a linux fanboy because you cannot afford a new phone, because you are not in the system! ;-)

@ John Coryat

Do you really think that not being able to officially put WM7 on an existing handset is going to stop the 'MS Faithful' doing just that? I bet even before the launch of WM7 I will have that ROM on my HD2 running like a dream. Microsoft have got to give this a try because this is probably the last push they have at getting into the Smartfone market, and with the Windows OS being slowly pushed out the window by other rivals there isn't much more they can do to survive. Is it worth them going down the Apple route and making the devices themselves?

You missed a few huge manufacturers announced as partners way back in March: HP, Toshiba & Sony Ericsson. I know it's Microsoft's product and your trying to pretend like they're going to fail so that you can "make news," but at least get the facts straight and try to keep up since this "news" is months old.

I bet you say -

"Wahhh I wish MS would ditch all the legacy crap and start from scratch!"

and I bet you say too -

"Wahhh I wish MS didnt ditch all the legacy crap and start from fresh!"

You can't have it both ways chap, so which is it?

Make your mind up!

Live in legacy land or suck it up and move on.

What futher amuses me is that most of the smartphone whiners going on about being 'left behind' are the types that upgrade their phones every year or sooner anyway.

So you are a step behind for 6 months.

Boo..hoo.

Microsoft has missed the smartphone boat and will really have a problem moving people into their already obsolete platform.

One thing that's really going to bug the MS faithful, they're not going to allow W7 on any existing handset. This is sheer lunacy! Why start out with a 0% market share and make everyone who currently owns a MS based device annoyed and discouraged?

Android and iPhone have a quantum leap ahead of MS. It will be hard to even make a dent in their lead.