Rumors

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.

New information has come forth confirming October 21^st for the Lumia 920 launch

The technology site BGR recently cited Sunday, October 21^st as the launch date for the Nokia Lumia 920. At the time, we gave a low rating to the rumor due to two reasons: BGR’s rumor track record (52% on Tracour) and the fact that the date conflicts with other word-of-mouth bits of information.

However, Windows Phone Central has now come across new documentation circulating within AT&T that does indeed confirm the date of October 21^st as an important day for the upcoming Nokia flagship phone. This is not the same info that presumably BGR saw (or was told) due to its recency. 

With HTC's Windows Phone event only a day away, we are seeing a blurry image surface that is reported the HTC 8x Windows Phone. Rumors are still going strong that we will see two, maybe three new Windows Phones from HTC tomorrow. Could this be the 8x?

The other shoe to drop with this leaked image is speculation that the 8x is headed to Verizon Wireless. According to the tipster who sent the photo, the 8x was branded for Verizon and has support for the carriers 4G LTE network.  

The HTC Elation is most likely faked

Our inbox has been inundated for the last five hours or so with ‘tips’ on the alleged HTC Elation. The device was reported on Ubuntu Life early this morning and the image and details reportedly came from HTC’s own site—in essence, a URL popped up that revealed the device in all its glory.

In just under 72 hours, HTC will be showing off numerous new devices featuring Windows Phone 8, so seeing things “leak” early is to be expected, not to mention the ‘Elation’ somewhat matches the specs of the alleged ‘Zenith’ WP8 device that HTC has reportedly been working on.

Good to go, right? Not so fast…

There are some red flags that have caused us to consider this not real...

Google is getting bold, telling OEMs 'no' on other OSs

Update: Google's Andy Rubin finally responds. See after the break...

A bit of a controversy is slowly erupting over Acer’s widely publicized plan to use the Aliyun OS in a new line of low-cost smartphones, mostly destined for the Chinese market. Aliyun OS is a Linux-based system developed by the Chinese company Alibaba Group and offered a way for OEMs like Acer to diversify.

Acer has now abruptly canceled plans after Google “expressed concerns” over the announcement.  Though Acer still wants to use the Aliyun OS, the move by Google is being interpreted as a hostile action to block competition. Reportedly Google threatened to cancel Acer’s license to make Android devices, which many consider playing hardball.

The question is, how far is Google willing to go to maintain dominance?

I think we have briefly heard about this before, and Chinese tech site WPDang just got confirmation from their informants: Microsoft will cancel retail package of Windows 8. This means you won't be able to grab a DVD copy at nearby store. Instead, to get the latest member of the Windows family, you have the following options:

• Buy a branded PC, and get preloaded Windows 8
• Some OEM have Windows 8 upgrade coupons for buyers of existing Windows 7 computers, providing a way to the future
• If you have a genuine copy of Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, Microsoft has an online upgrading program. Sets you $14.99 for an upgrade from Windows 7, and $39.99 for upgrade from its elder brothers