Windows Phone 7 only on GSM until mid-2011

There's some bad news for expectant Windows Phone 7 owners on CDMA carriers. Verizon had already said it wouldn't have WP7 devices until 2011, but Microsoft has now confirmed that the delayed release will be around mid-2011.

Greg Sullivan, product manager at Microsoft, told CNET: "We had to make some trade-offs...Even Microsoft doesn't have unlimited resources...We had to prioritize doing fewer things, really, really well." While there was talk of such a delay, this is the first official confirmation, and will surely dash many Verizon/Sprint subscribers' hopes.

Sullivan explained that their reasoning for starting with GSM was that it is a more global standard for their launch. Although the devices will be GSM, Sullivan gave no statement regarding T-Mobile also having devices at launch. There is obviously suspicion that the cold shoulder to CDMA is due in part to the KIN's epic failure with Verizon.

In an effort to follow the bad news with the good, we should note that Sullivan thought that 'mid-2011' was a conservative estimate.

source: CNET via Engadget