During Wednesday’s Windows Phone Summit, Microsoft announced that, come Windows Phone 8, updates will be delivered over-the-air. On top of this, Microsoft has also guaranteed that future Windows Phone 8 devices will get at least 18 months worth of software updates, meaning that they will not be rendered obsolete as quickly as the Lumia 900 — or any other current-gen Windows Phone device — will become.

Google has similarly made such a promise, however, they’ve failed to deliver (plenty of handsets still don’t have the major Ice Cream Sandwich update), so it would be interesting to see if Microsoft remains true to their word. The iPhone 3GS will be receiving iOS 6 — albeit a version that is stripped of quite a few features — but that’s still pretty impressive as it has been 40 months since the device was released.

I wonder this will impact the update experience, given the various OEMs and carriers that need to be involved. What will update timing be like? Will it be similar to how they’ve gradually rolled out updates now?

For you early adopters out there, Microsoft will also be launching a program that will allow “enthusiasts” who register early access to updates before they’re pushed out to consumers.

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