For that matter, who is going to buy a Windows Phone 8 device now, since there's no reason to believe it will run Windows Phone 9?

It's one thing to know your phone will eventually be obsolete, it's another thing when that eventuality is imminent.

They changed to a better kernel. A really old and battle tested kernel. It is an exceptional reason to break compatibility but it's hard to argue that they shouldn't have made the decision. Certainly they won't switch kernels again soon because there is no better Windows kernel than NT.

For that matter, who is going to buy an Android 2.3 device now, since there's no reason to believe it will run Android 4.0?

Or an iPhone 3GS, since there's... oh, wait... and it was released when? ... 2009 you say? Astonishing.

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EDIT: For the narrative impaired, I am saying that the 3GS is still being supported with major software upgrades despite being three years old, in stark contrast to all other major smartphone platforms.

You mean the 3GS from 2009 that will be supported by their pending iOS 6 release?

Astonishing.

I guess you're making the point that people will continue to buy it because they are mis- or uninformed?

I’m making the point that that issue alone (which I consider very serious and hindering the ecosystem) didn’t kill Android.