[Noir]

I think that was the initial idea. Recall that Balmer said upward till at least May that Microsoft would be releasing Wp7 on all four carriers in the holiday season. Perhaps the issue with this is in a two-fold: with sprint there have been not so good sales of the last windows mobile device (touch pro 2) and have gone in favor of android (sadly) despite testing a LG wp7 device. With Verizon, that company has always been the last to the proverbial party (with android, with iphone, and with a lesser extent RIM) so it ideally doesn't surprise me that Verizon pulled out with wp7, but it does leave me at a dismay because the touch pro 2 sold and sold fantastically well with verizon; being the second smartphone on ANY US carrier for fall 2009 just a tad bit shy of beating the iphone 3gs. It is therefore difficult to surmise exactly why VzW did this. Perhaps it is related to the kin debacle, but again the fail of the kin is rooted in VzW pricing and not so much Microsoft (there goes the pricing standardization again!)

I am actually very surprised sprint is not on this wagon though considering they were more than eager for wp7 last year. VzW is a lot more explainable. Does it make it right? No, absolutely not! But it does make sense on some fronts.

Recall that HTC (after sluggish sales of the diamond and Imagio on CDMA carriers) has stated that they would not give users with a windows mobile platform a candybar design unless it completely sells. Granted of course, but why the EVO sales? Considering that, then it is a question.

A bigger question is who lies at fault - CDMA carriers or Microsoft or a mix of both? Undoubtedly with the iphone sales and android fever on Verizon and the android fever on a lesser extent with sprint, it could be polarizing to their sales. IT COULD BE. But again I have no earthly idea =/