Rumors of a Windows 8 feature update codenamed "Blue" have been floating around for a while now, but according to a new report, the "Blue" name is being used to identify the next sizable update for Windows Phone as well. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet claims to have been told by a "very accurate tipster" that Blue is actually an entire group of updates for products like Windows 8, Window Phone and Windows Services like SkyDrive that are all expected to be released within close proximity to one another. Blue is rumored to coming in the summer or fall of 2013.

It's not known exactly what kind of changes Microsoft might have up its sleeve for any of the versions of Blue, but the source of this rumor suggests that we could see some user experience modifications, kernel and driver updates that may offer improved performance and battery life, and improvements to core apps like Mail, Calendar and Internet Explorer. Microsoft will still be cooking up minor updates in addition to Blue, like the Portico update that's been going out to Windows Phone 8 devices lately.

Blue isn't the only Windows Phone update that's rumored to be in the pipeline, as there have also been reports that Microsoft is prepping an "Apollo Plus" update. Apollo Plus has been described as a point release that'll include things like VPN support and audio enhancements, and it sounds like it'll be more of a maintenance update while Blue will be a bit more feature-packed. The good news is that the Microsoft is expected to show off Apollo Plus at Mobile World Congress later this month, so it ought to serve as a nice update snack to keep users satiated until Blue arrives later this year.

Via ZDNet