Why AT&T and Verizon Are Rooting for Windows Phones

In recent weeks, the two big American phone carriers, AT&T and Verizon, have been talking big about Microsoft’s Windows Phone software. AT&T has been hurling loads of money at marketing Nokia’s Lumia 900, a smartphone that runs on the Windows Phone operating system. And now Verizon, too, has revealed plans to aggressively promote Windows Phone 8, the next version of Microsoft’s software.

Fran Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer, said last week that the company wanted a third big player in mobile software to come into the picture, and it was going to throw Microsoft a bone. “We’re really looking at the Windows Phone 8.0 platform because that’s a differentiator,” Shammo said after Verizon’s earnings report. “We’re working with Microsoft on it.” He didn’t say when Windows Phone 8 handsets would be available on Verizon. All the chatter about Windows phones is abrupt. Before April, Windows Phone 7 seemed virtually irrelevant to consumers, and American carriers were relatively quiet about the operating system. So why, suddenly, all the love and support for Windows Phone? The answer is multifaceted: The carriers are tired of Apple’s calling all the shots, Microsoft offers a compromise, and everyone is watching with weary eyes what exactly Google will do with its purchase of Motorola Mobility.