Windows 10 Mobile will not arrive on existing handsets until early 2016

This piece of news should come as no surprise based on the fact that earlier today we learned that Microsoft is not even planning to flight anymore Windows 10 builds to Insiders until after the new year.

For those of you who are still on Windows Phone 8.1 based hardware it looks like Microsoft will be pushing back the public release of Windows 10 Mobile until sometime in early 2016.

A Microsoft spokesperson provided the following official statement to Mary Jo Foley over on ZD Net:

"This November we introduced Windows 10 to phones including brand new features such as Continuum and Universal Windows Apps with the introduction of the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. The Windows 10 Mobile upgrade will begin rolling out early next year to select existing Windows 8 and 8.1 phones."

While it is good to have definitive word that the update is delayed we still do not know the entire list of which devices are expected to receive it. That leaves many users in a lurch as they wait to find out if their hardware will be supported or not.

As Rod wrote back in November, a list was available that showed just 11 Lumia devices that would get Windows 10 Mobile. Conspicuously missing from that list was a past top end device, the Lumia 1520, so that just resulted in even more confusion about the accuracy of that list.

Microsoft will need to proactively manage expectations concerning which devices will be on the final official list of supported handsets for Windows 10 Mobile. Springing that on the enthusiast community the same day they plan for the final release would not go over very well.  Just look back at the reaction to OneDrive storage changes last month for an example of how this community can respond to negative situations.

Luckily, anyone left behind can still try the Windows Insider program on their devices to get the latest test builds of Windows 10 Mobile but that may not be satisfactory to many.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.