Windows Phone 7 update in “probably early March” says Samsung rep

February 10, 2011 | By Surur

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That first update for Windows phone 7 continues to recede into the distance, with the latest being Samsung rep at a Microsoft developer event in France (Techdays 2011) replying to a question: "When will be the update for Windows 7 Phone? " with “Probably early March, we will confirm at the Mobile World Congress in mid-February. "

Rumours of a further delay due to carrier certification has started recently, but for a relatively good reason – unplanned additions to the update which may promise new features.

Of course it may also be due to Microsoft needing to ship extra security for developer unlocking devices, which is not exactly a good reason for waiting.

Either way some more waiting is in order, but then I am pretty satisfied with my handset as is, so it is not such a hardship.

Via WindowsPhonefr.com, thanks Patouf for the tip.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged rumour, update, windows phone 7

Omega Ra

it is a hardship for those of us waiting on a Verizon/Sprint phone though….I am getting very frustrated..
Arne Helseth

Sorry, but unplanned additions is not a good reason. You would think a company the size of Microsoft knew how to manage feature creep by now.

Brian

agreed, unplanned additions is a terrible reason. At this late date features should be frozen, and the only show-stoppers should be critical bugs. This is especially true on this first update, which should have been 1) timely and 2) robust – in order to give Microsoft a good showing. Any manager allowing feature creep at this late date should be let go.

If they had gotten the C&P/performance update out in a timely fashion we would instead be looking at a rollup for the second update and a March time frame would not have been an issue.

chinch

anyone expecting Sprint/Verizon in the "january" update was being naive.

1st half 2011 is what MS has stated for that – and that doesn't factor consider Carrier desire to ship and market the device.
Keith

They are making it much worse by not communicating. Microsoft makes such good stuff but wow are they stupid at the top.
PaddyParker

We'll find out more next week at MWC . My only hope is that Microsoft were preparing two updates and decided that the second update was so close to being ready that they delayed the first one so they could deploy both together as one larger update. I'm a dreamer I guess.

Regardless of who set the expectation, Microsoft are going to take some hits in the tech press on this one.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Milad-Bazzaz/100000479683479 Milad Bazzaz

funny…I thought there is NO WAY Microsoft comes to WMC with the "big news" of Copy and Paste. I thought that will be pushed before the WMC and we will get a glimpse of the NEXT step.

Instead Ballmer will have his dumbarse face on TV, smiling and saying…we are SOOOOOO commited to WP7, its our next billion dollar section and since its soooooo important for us, we have listened to customers…today, I'm proud to unveil….COPY AND PASTE COMING IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS….

and again, Microsoft ends up as the laughing stock of the WMC like they were on CES…

WAKE UP MICROSOFT DAMN IT. Do these idiots realize they are THE HUNTERS and not the HUNTED? you gotta be quicker than the rivals or you will never catch them, simple as that.

man1up

"funny…I thought there is NO WAY Microsoft comes to WMC with the "big news" of Copy and Paste. I thought that will be pushed before the WMC and we will get a glimpse of the NEXT step. "

I believed this too until HP/Palm actually used an online voting to show "their dominance" yesterday. I too hope they dont consider it an acheivment, but minialize it and focus on plans for second versions/CDMA/Language Support/ and new allinances with big names.

jimski

Aside from c&p and speed improvements, no mention of what bug fixes will be addressed. So I have to wait another month to find out I will have to wait another 3 or more months for bugs to be corrected. Sorry, but sounding more like WM every day. Some of those bugs still exist even though they were identified years ago. Fortunately many were patched by the good folks at XDA. Guess I will need to start trolling those forums again looking for fixes. Some things never change.
zzz

That's what I've saying but apparently Paul Thurrott's rant had a lot of negative effect on some people.

lkl

The problem with that is they aren't saying anything. It's all leaked by others. What is the update and when is the update? Apple is in the news daily and Google is right behind them. If not for the possible merger of Nokia and Microsoft there wouldn't be any news. What ever happen to the Venue Pro?

zzz

Not true. In early January, MS put out an official information on updates. They said there will be updates (plural) coming in the next few months. *Some* of those changes are C&P, performance and marketplace improvement. As you can see, they don't give out exact dates because things can happen with OEMs and carriers which can affect the dates. This time, things got pushed back one month due to last minute carrier/oem changes.

People reading blogs like this are too hungry for daily dose of news and I think they are just too impatient. Don't worry, I think we will get quarterly updates. Ballmer made it very clear in an interview that the key to WP7 being competitive is rolling out regular updates.

Paul

"Ballmer made it very clear in an interview that the key to WP7 being competitive is rolling out regular updates."

And he made it very clear, starting around 2005-2006, that making MS more agile was a critical priority. Accomplishing the goal takes more than simply understanding the need.

oslik

The Samsung rep. didn't specify the year, so it may be early March 2012.

http://twitter.com/EJ1024 @EJ1024

Haha

Charles Friend

Why can't they do multiple small updates? Atleast where there is a problem with one of the updates, it's easier to track down the problem and fix the problem. Plus, I really need the update to speed up app load time! I need to be able to load my Fart Machine quickly and fart away!!!
http://www.facebook.com/cwiley2566 Craig Wiley

What about the Samsung Focus microsd… Is that going to be fixed in any of these updates??
whyjoe

RSG, well said. You helped calm me down, because when I read this at first I was fuming. The lack of specific communication and follow-through by MS combined are driving me (and aparrently Paul Thurriot) NUTS.

I have evangelized this platform to my friends, and have gotten a couple of peopleon board. Those friends say things to me like, "Wow, I love this phone. It's amazing." And the NEXT WORDS to me are: "Where can I download a ringtone" and "How can I copy and paste a web address?" These people are who MS was aiming at. Neither had bough new smartphones before, and neither would consider an iPhone for different reasons, but both went out and signed a 2-year-contract with the devil to get a Samsung Focus.

What did I tell them? "Heheh, err uh, ringtones will come soon." And "Copy and Paste? Microsoft has been saying that's coming VERY soon." I'm just nervous that Microsoft is going to make a liar out of me.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ricardo-Dawkins/746307628 Ricardo Dawkins

They are adding the option to save the camera settings. Please, do not despair.

Onceawinmoguy

BS!

http://www.facebook.com/J88NYR Jonny Rose

I was disappointed when they first announced the update that it was only really going to be a speed boost and copy and paste. But then it didn't bother me to much because they will be other updates… But now it is beginning to p!ss me off, 2 months later than originally said for an update that basically does very little.
They better announce whats coming in the next update which will hopefully be soon, or have added extra things to the update. If not I am going to be pretty annoyed at their progress.

zzz

The CDMA cannot be be under emphasized. It will double the wp7 sales rate and will give a huge boost to the ecosystem. In the end, you will be able to enjoy more, better apps due to this.

Brian

It won't come close to doubling the sales rate, CDMA is a much smaller market than GSM. It does open up China and Japan, but Android is already big in China and iOS in Japan. Here in the states the big CDMA player already has two big players in Android and iOS. The fact that iOS beat WP7 to Verizon is bad news for WP7.

zzz

I understand about the world split. But right now WP7 sales are disproportionally heavy on US despite the fact that 2/3 of WP7 target customers of US are on CDMA. I would say 1/2 is coming from the US. So adding CDMA will make a big difference to the current number. Nokia will seal the deal for Europe and asia later.

Brian

I haven't seen any numbers to back this up – in fact hasn't that been a big question mark for WP7 so far – no numbers?

http://www.facebook.com/J88NYR Jonny Rose

This is true to some extent, but it only affects the US. I am wondering if they are delaying it because of new chip support, and manufactures releasing new phones with said chips

zzz

Quite possible. But it's also possible that AT&T was jerking the chain on MS to slow the CDMA release as long as possible.

Brian

It seems likely, do to what appears to be a very tepid initial response, that AT&T probably don't care one way or another what MS does with WP7.

Brian

"This is not Apple or Android alright, MSFT dont just copy what other company did"

You mean like be successful?
Greg

From the point an OS is released to manufacture, which was 1 September 2010, to the point the next OS is released, makes me believe that Microsoft is working on a 6-monthly update cycle.

Of course, comments that lead you to believe otherwise keep coming out. In November 2010, someone from MS was widely quoted as saying this update would come "within weeks". It ended up being that 6 monthly cycle.