Verizon could be retiring the Lumia Icon

You might remember that earlier this year there were a lot of rumors about Verizon receiving an exclusive Windows Phone device. In February the Lumia Icon was exclusively launched on Verizon and it later became in other markets as the slightly modified Lumia 929. A new report suggests that Verizon might be retiring the device even before it has been one full year since it was launched and a tweet from one of Verizon’s own accounts seems to corroborate this.

Verizon seems to have removed mentions of the Lumia Icon from the Verizon Wireless site, though the Lumia 928 (introduced in May 2013) is still featured and for sale there. “Retiring,” in this case, appears to mean continuing to sell existing inventory but not restocking, based on a Twitter exchange between Blue Chip consultant Eric Grover and a one of the people responsible for the Verizon Wireless Twitter account. After pinging and repinging various Microsoft spokespeople as to whether this was true all day long on October 10, I still couldn’t get an official confirmation — or a denial. Nokia launched the Lumia Icon, a k a the Lumia 929, exclusively on Verizon in February 2014. The launch gave those of us Windows Phone users on Verizon hope that Microsoft/Nokia and Verizon had begun smoothing out their rocky relationships. But since that time, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like much has really changed.