Apollo + update for Windows Phone 8 on the way

Microsoft is working on an update for Windows Phone 8, with reports indicating it’ll be called Apollo + (or Apollo Plus).

According to The Verge’s unnamed sources, Apollo + will add in features which weren’t ready for release by the time Windows Phone 8 launched.

That may well include an aggregated notifications centre, if previous reports are anything to go by.

Shortly after Windows Phone 8’s big release, Microsoft’s own Thomas Fennel, Program Manager for Windows Phone, said that the intention was to include a notification centre similar to those users now commonly find on rival platforms, but that the team ‘ran out of time’.

However, it’s believed Apollo + won’t be a ‘major’ update, it’s simply a bit of tidying and polishing of the existing build. Allegedly VPN support will be added along with tweaks to the Wi-Fi capability to allow an ‘always on’ state. Audio support is also being a bit more finely tuned.

The reports also suggest Microsoft is preparing to push the new update over-the-air (OTA), something which was pegged to be part of Windows Phone 7 updates but never fully materialised, instead users had to connect handsets to a PC.

There may well be other features which didn’t make it to launch and could be finding their way into Apollo +, but it has been suggested Microsoft will reveal more details at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February 2013.

It's possible the Apollo + update could coincide with a release of Microsoft's rumoured Surface phone.