Rumor: "Flexible" Hardware Requirements To Be Announced for Windows Phone 7?

Note: This is an artificial mockup.

Just last week Winrumors unleashed a big rumor about the Xbox 360 would soon support Silverlight and share a marketplace with Windows Phone 7. This week they've got another juicy tip, this time entirely focused on WP7.

As soon as this week at MIX, Microsoft is rumored to announce new 'flexible' hardware specifications for manufacturers of Windows Phones. Here's a direct quote from the article:

The new flexibility will offer device makers the option to use cheaper components to bring the overall cost of a Windows Phone down. Microsoft is understood to be open to flexible specifications in order to gain smartphone market share and eat into Google’s Android efforts.

While this does seem likely to happen as Microsoft needs an aggressive strategy in order to catch up to competitors, there are a few things to be noted with this rumor. First of all, the rumor brings up no mention of whether or not this is the Chassis 2 requirements or if this is an entirely new plan. Usually with these kinds of rumors, they stick to the terminology and the lack of the word 'Chassis' mentioned anywhere in the article is notable.

The second issue is that some outlets, like PocketNow, are translating this to mean that the hardware requirements will be come a free-for-all and the platform could suffer from severe fragmentation similar to Android and even their own Windows Mobile. However, this directly contradicts Microsoft's original plans for Windows Phone 7 which was envisioned to be a unified approach that would result in feature and performance parity across a variety of devices. The chances of Microsoft letting OEMs off the chain to do whatever they want with the platform seem low.

So take the 'flexible' part of this rumor with a grain of salt and keep your eyes and ears open for any (predicted) news on Chassis 2.

Via: PocketNow
Source: Winrumors