Rumors

Should information which has been passed on to us be accurate, O2 UK will be sporting not three, but four Windows Phones. A Windows Phone Central reader was able to extract details from the carrier surrounding the potential stocking of a Lumia 920 with LTE capabilities. A support representative answered queries with some degree of affirmation.

The Lumia 920 has been picked up by EE (Everything Everywhere) as an exclusive launch handset for its new 4G LTE UK network. While the exclusivity will be limited in duration, and other operators (including O2) will subsequently be able to stock the Nokia flagship Windows Phone, it's positive to see a UK carrier planning to arrive at the Microsoft party with chocolate cake.

Late last week we wrote in length about the unwarranted uproar caused by the AT&T exclusive Nokia announcements. At the centre of the controversy was the notion that there would not be a Nokia Windows Phone 8 device coming to Verizon. [Actually, it was about them not getting the Lumia 920 -Ed.]

We could be seeing the first signs of life from the coming Nokia refresh for Verizon as The Verge reports, via @evkleaks, on this Atlas device.

With yesterday’s announcement of the Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 coming to AT&T, the word that caught our eye and yours was “exclusive”. Even Rogers is now in on the "exclusive" action. The term was applied to both Lumia devices, although as pointed out in our forums, the 820’s exclusiveness to AT&T was dropped from Nokia’s site later in the day. 

The tech’o’sphere has responded quite negatively to the news if only because the Lumia 920 has built up such demand that many people are cheering for its success. That success though depends on how many people can actually buy it, which in turn translates into carrier availability. If the Lumia 920 is only available on 1 of 4 major US carriers, well that’s certainly less people than had it been on two or three carriers. A pretty obvious impact.

Xbox Music to be improved with Rdio?

Microsoft may well be looking to purchase Rdio, if what sources informing The Next Web is accurate. According to their report, Microsoft is currently in talks to acquire the San Francisco-based digital music streaming service, which would suit both companies should a deal be eventually made.

The other day we reported that Nokia may be prohibiting carriers from branding the new Lumia Windows Phones with their company logos. Instead, preferring that carriers use virtual branding through preloaded software or software hubs.

Several Italian carriers are reportedly preparing to offer the new Lumia Windows Phones without logo branding. As we mentioned previously, the overseas carrier influence is a little more passive that what we experience here in the States. We weren't sure if this logo ban would extend to AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile until this morning.

AT&T and the Lumia 920: coming soon, we swear

Recently we wrote about October 21st as being an important date for the Lumia 920 and AT&T. At the time, the info coming out strongly indicated that this was the release window which AT&T was aiming for (even though it raised a lot of eyebrows).

The problem always had been that Microsoft publicly has not unveiled all of Windows Phone 8 yet and when they do, it’s not expected until the end of October. That makes selling a phone before that time, well, odd.

We now have some new information that sheds light on the issue and it falls back on our previous theory. Here are the latest timeframes we know regarding AT&T’s planned Lumia 920 launch. The info once again comes directly though a highly placed source at AT&T.

(Concept Surface phone by YrOnimuS)

Yesterday we wrote a fairly lengthy article about a new rumor of a Microsoft Windows Phone. The source came via China Times and we were hesitant to believe the claim—after all, no evidence or sources were mentioned.

Still, we pointed out that Microsoft is a large company with a ton of resources. If they wanted to do a phone, they most certainly could pull it off and the Surface Tablets only reinforce the notion that they can do this in secret.

So what has changed? Information has come forward to Windows Phone Central that demonstrates Microsoft does have their own Windows Phone hardware in the works; in fact, we’ve heard it already exists and is in testing. The source(s) are known to us and not anonymous, though for obvious reasons we must keep them off the record.

Looks like the same old Zune Pass to us

Engadget managed to get their hands on some Xbox Music Pass screens from the Xbox 360 beta program.

The images supposedly reveal the new pricing program and feature set though to our eyes, we’re not actually seeing anything different here besides a little more control over content. In the images, clearly from the UK, we can see the pricing of £8.99 ($15) for a month, while £89.90 ($146).

But does that carry over to the US? We have a few screenshots too sent in to us and the US pricing is exactly the same as the current Zune Pass: $9.99 a month or $99 a year, masking the implied price jump here.

Verizon set to get the 'big 3'?

Although unverified at this point, the site PhoneArena is claiming to have the Verizon roadmap for upcoming new devices, including those rumored “multiple” Windows Phone 8 phones.

The good news if accurate is Verizon is getting all of the big guns, including the Nokia Lumia 920, Samsung ATIV S and the recently announced HTC 8X—all considered to be the top of the line launch devices for Windows Phone 8, due to occur at the end of October.