Microsoft has decided to “take some extra time” in rolling out a much-anticipated update for its Windows Phone 7 operating system to make sure an embarrassing software snafu won’t be repeated. The update is now expected toward the end of March.
A February “under the hood” update that was supposed to tweak the smartphone firmware to better receive future update — including Marketplace search and cut-and-paste functionality — caused problems for an undisclosed number of Samsung phone users, ranging from failed updates to bricked, or useless, phones.
Microsoft said only about 10 percent of Windows Phone 7 users experienced the difficulties and of those, half did not have enough data storage space or enough bandwidth to receive the update, which requires USB connection to a computer.
The update was resumed a couple of days later.
Being Prudent
Writing on the official Microsoft Windows Phone 7 blog Thursday, Eric Huatala, who is in charge of the updates team, said “We have the next update waiting in the wings. It delivers copy and paste, better Marketplace search, and other key improvements.”
He continued, “But I believe it’s important that we learn all we can from the February update. So I’ve decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners. As a result, our plan is to start delivering the copy-and-paste update in the latter half of March.”
Huatala, who couched the disappointing news in a long post about the complicated process of delivering updates, added “This short pause should in no way impact the timing of future updates, including the one announced recently at Mobile World Congress featuring multitasking, a Twitter feature, and a new HTML 5-friendly version of Internet Explorer Mobile.”
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