Some carriers blame MS for NoDo delays

By Seth Brodeur
last updated

Tired of waiting for NoDo to hit your device?  Well, despite some reports that the carriers are to blame for the hold-up, it could in fact be Microsoft's doing.  Two European carriers have said that they have approved the NoDo update and are waiting on Microsoft to roll it out.

Vodaphone UK was quoted on the record today that updates for the LG Optimus 7 and HTC 7 Trophy have “been approved by Vodafone and will be distributed by Microsoft in due course.”  They did not have any information on when the rollout would begin, but did say they would notify their customers via eForum as soon as they knew.

Orange, another UK carrier, also said that they were waiting on Microsoft to initiate the NoDo push.  A representative stated that, “the current plan is for Microsoft to roll out our approved version on the 29th March."  WinRumors has written that an third European carrier, who asked not to be named, told them that they, too, have approved the update, but that Microsoft was “treading slowly” in the wake of their recent mishaps.

Hopefully, these delays are Microsoft doing extensive testing to avoid further problems.

Source: WinRumors

Seth Brodeur
Seth Brodeur
30 Comments
  • I blame everyone, but on the other hand with Apple releasing iOS updates faster and Google gaining share, as serious as MS is and needs to be about mobile I figure the market preasure alone will do the trick and force them to move faster. Nothing brings change like a hit to a companies bottom line.
  • Ditto.
  • Truth ^^
  • Double ditto. Remember Vista? Also Robert Palmer (the lights are on, but not home).
  • I actually read somewhere (I think Paul Thurrot's blog) that the WP7 team is actually made up of people from the Vista team. So this whole fiasco (i.e. OS being pushed out too fast, terrible advertising, botched update cycles) makes perfect sense.I'm guessing WP8 (or just Windows 8 on ARM) will be headed up by the Windows 7 team and will be glorious.
  • Must...blame...someone...
  • Sorry, but I really don't see any of this shaking out well. At this point, don't expect Mango until around June 2012.Btw, my LG Panther won't be getting any updates. That's officially called fragmentation.
  • June! That's wishful thinking. I was looking at a timeframe of September.
  • Maybe carriers & MS will even wait until December 2012, just to see if that whole mayan prophecy thing shakes out and gets them off the hook.
  • You're being quite pessimistic. Lets compare the market. Apple only updates their limited range of hardware devices and they sometimes have issues. Google eventually, if you're lucky, updates a wide range of devices over weeks but are not without their issues. Microsoft is attempting to update every single device with their limited, yet still wide range of hardware; did you really think it was all go smooth the first time around?I admit, it annoying but that is only because we are geeks are are expecting it. If Microsoft is holding back the update, they are doing it for a good reason, so let them. My Focus is nearly flawless, I'm not hurting for the update. What would be more annoying is getting excited for the update and it failing, which has happened to many people and I'm sure they are trying to make sure that doesn't happen again. The landscape will probably be very different by the time Mango is supposed to release. Think positive, I doubt Microsoft is trying to **** early adopters.
  • Offtopic, but I can't wait to hear tonight's Windows Weekly. This update situation has been bungled so badly it's hilarious.
  • Arent they recording tomorrow morning?
  • The thing Microsoft should be ashamed about is announcing this update to appear first week of March (then later second half). But they failed to add in... "pending carrier schedules".It's such a big blunder, that I have a feeling it'll be talked about years to come.
  • Whatever who's fault. I just don't care. At the end of the day, the only person not satisfied is the paying customer.Do you understand this MS ???Once again, this is a total fiasco.Mango will be probabl worse.
  • Exactly. It's pathetic and infuriating. I feel bad for all of MY customers that trusted my opinion when I sold them on Windows Phone. Easy and frequent updates akin to the iPhone? Yeah **** right.I might be more understanding if there was some form of reasoning or justification behind these delays, but there isn't. Just endless "testing" with absolutely nothing to show for it. If MS were a little more honest and transparent than that bullshit chart they released: "We're scratching our asses and playing with our genitalia. We tried a fake update on some phones and a bunch of them bricked. So now we don't know what to do." You know what I'm honestly scared of at this point? This problem is bigger than they're letting on. Is this whole concept of "carrier choice, device choice, streamlined updates" not possible for MS? It's just fishy to me. Why in god's name does it take so long for testing? Why does it supposedly take 10 days to schedule a rollout? Why are they implying blame on carriers when the carriers appear to be as clueless as us customers are when it comes to knowing what MS is doing?I'm pissed because I was fully ready to invest faith in Microsoft again. And now I feel like a fool.
  • I'm not so sure Microsoft should be ashamed. They are the first to attempt rolling out a single update to multiple different devices at once. That is no easy task, especially when they have to please the operators too!Looking at the, rather nice, site Microsoft made to show people where their update is, it was quite obvious that once Carriers had approved the update, it would take upto 10 days for Microsoft to push out the update (Scheduling). Which is hardly a problem.I applaud Microsoft for what they are attempting and I do feel sorry for them with all this negative PR they are getting. This is the first big update and it will surely get better. Lets hope they prove me right and get Mango out this year.It might not be quite as good as Apples update process, but its far better than the state Android is in. My Motorola Milestone recieved 2.2 last week, thats 9 months or so later than the updates original release date. My Windows Phone 7 on Orange UK however, will only have to wait 1 week for the NoDo update since its release. Even if I count the 2 month delay that NoDo had from being the "January Update", its still significantly better. Thats even better than my partners HTC Desire, who still had to wait 3 months for Android 2.2 and is still waiting on 2.3.
  • Microsoft has rolled up multiple updates on Windows Mobile devices, Hundreds of thousands of various computer pc configurations... seriously this is nothing new to Microsoft, they roll out updates all the time.
  • Windows Update has been around for years and years, they have all that situated and figured out. Windows Mobile did not have the same updating process. You had to go to the manufacture or carrier site, download the update, install it, and reconfigure your entire devices. The approach for Windows Phone is vastly different. Like the iPhone, you get it in Zune, it backs up your device, wipes/installs the update, restore all your content and you go. This is the first time Microsoft has done this, plus they have to work with manufactures, carriers, and then push out notices to devices that an update is ready. Give them some slack.
  • I agree, people think just because it's Microsoft this should be an easy task for them. No, it's new to them and they have to figure it out. Being the early adopters, we are the guinea pigs. Once they get this situated we will probably not have this issue again and Mango should come out on time.
  • I'm not blind to the fact that Microsoft shouldn't get a good chunk of the blame for the delays. But doesn't anyone else find it interesting that not a single one of these Euro carriers stated when they gave their respective green lights to Microsoft? Until they publish their schedules, as far as I'm concerned most of this is manufacturer and carrier holdups.
  • Yeah I have to agree. Carriers especially hold way too much power over phone updates. In the case of Android, carriers don't even bother updating some phones at all.
  • This is just getting very old. very old indeed.
  • Time for us to go to our windows, lean outside and start screaming "I'm as mad as **** as **** and I'm not going to take it anymore" to bewildered passer-bys. On a separeate note, while it's important to put things in context, some of the excuses being made are symptomatic of a warped Battered First Adopters Syndrome (heck, I'm probably suffering from it myself).
  • Microsoft should be "going Apple" on carriers and forcing them to prioritize their updates. We all know carriers don't give a **** about Android because it comes out of their's and the manufacturer's time and resources. But if Microsoft adds incentive for carriers to speed up testing/scheduling then maybe they wouldn't be in this situation. Or the better option would be for MS to convince them to give up power over the update rollouts and Microsoft would take responsibility for any software issues. Isn't that the main reason why carriers control the update process: because it's a legal liability?If Microsoft takes that liability (at least for the short term) they could easily just send out updates through Zune without even bothering with the carriers. Of course it is risky, but when you're down and out in a market you need to take risks and make sure the consumer is satisfied. Apple does it, Microsoft should too.
  • as long as we (US AT&T) get the update before June i'll be ok as this is a "Minor Update" and the only thing i care about is the Marketplace bug fix which requires a reboot..(Samsung Focus) But when the "Mango" update is near thats what ill be keeping my eye on. You people worry to much, I know its been delayed for a while but relax you'll end up getting it "soon"Edit: everyone should go on twitter and ask at&t when it will be pushed
  • The first thing i thought was "of course the carriers would blame MSFT, although I think carriers are really the ones that are at fault and partial MSFT's for letting them have too much control of updates. This makes me glad I am not an early adopter. I really want a WP7 device but not if it isn't gonna get updated. Understandably so that Android works like this (fragmentation), but seriously if MSFT built in OTA updates and planning on updating every device they should have bypassed the carriers. For my WP7 device i am NOT getting a branded device. AT&T is terrible and I would imagine they will hold out as long as possible.
  • I've often feel like a Greyhound in the races. They show you a rabbit (that you so desperately want), except that the closer you get to capturing it, the more they yank it. I mean, first it was January, then February. Then Ballmer said "Beginning of March". Then second half of March. Now, Microsoft finally gets a little transparent, only to find out we probably wont get this for a few more weeks. It sucks.That being said, what Microsoft is attempting to do is unprecedented. Updating all the different WP7 phones on different carriers worldwide within a relative short time. Something that no mobile OS maker (Apple doesn't count as they only worry about the one phone they make) has even attempted.At the end I'm sure we'll all be happy, but in the mean time, waiting has never been fun.
  • I agree with Ton77 cuz the only thing I want fix is the marketplace. this whole thing has become pathetic.
  • This is definitely Microsoft's problem, regardless of the root cause. WP7 is their platform and and regardless of how it washes out it reflects on the platform....as it should.The cornerstone that Microssoft sold this platform was the assurance of dependable, easy, timely, updates, with uniform availability for everyone. This has not happened so far.The price that has been paid for these supposed timely updates has been very high. Much higher than many people wished to pay. OEMs, carriers, and endusers have all been told they cannot change or enhance the UI in any way, because it would effect their ability to deliver dependable updates. APIs have been restricted for developer access because it would effect their ability to deliver dependable updates. Devices are locked to MarketPlace with no sideloaded apps because they say it would effect there ability to deliver dependable updates. This list goes on, and yet, after this high price updates are not flowing the way they lead us to believe.The way Microsoft handled Windows Mobile the last 2-3 years left a very bad taste in a lot of people's mouths,including, users, OEMs, and carriers. Many people have stated that they would never go back to a Microsoft phone unless they proved right out of the gate that they could, and would handle this platform properly. Since there have been delays and issues with this update those people have understandably lost what hope they may have had in Microsoft's ability to contend in the mobile space.It was so important for Microsoft to nail this. It is now going to make their task of contending even more difficult than it was.Dave
  • Definite lack of communications at leastCheck out the post from Lee from vodafone UK here:http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Operating-System-Discussion/WP7-NoDo-upda...