Microsoft has blamed handset manufacturers for the delay in updates to Windows Phone 7. The OS was launched in October, but some users were disappointed by the lack of some basic features such as copy and paste.
Joe Belfiore, head of Microsoft’s Windows Phone program, said to Reuters that he expected the update to be completed earlier, but that it hasn’t gone according to plan. He said the update was taking place, but that the company experienced issues with some handsets that stopped working properly once the update was installed on them. Once Microsoft detected the problem, the update procedure was completely changed, which obviously resulted in further delay.
Belfiore explained that handset makers play a bigger role than personal computer manufacturers since they add their own software programs to phones; whereas PC manufacturers don’t do that.
“We felt it would be better to be a little bit patient; make sure that when we get updates out that they would happen reliably, and unfortunately that caused a delay in getting things out,” he said. He also said he expects updates to be smooth in future.
Microsoft is likely to bring Internet Explorer 9 and some popular games to Windows Phone 7. The next major update, called Mango, is also likely to bring augmented reality features to cameras on Windows Phone 7 phones.
Angry Birds will arrive in May, and Skype and Spotify will make an appearance soon after that.
The Mango update will also enable multitasking so users will be able to run apps in the background while they do something else on the phone.