Microsoft France says Windows Phone 7 NoDo to arrive in the second half of March

After March 8 -- one of the most prevalent rumored dates for Microsoft's "NoDo" update to Windows Phone 7 -- came and went, many WP7 users were wondering what happened.

To be fair, Microsoft officials never promised publicly that the first major WP7 update would hit yesterday. NoDo is supposed to deliver copy-and-paste, improved performance, better Marketplace search and other new features. CEO Steve Ballmer said during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in February that Microsoft planned to release the first major update in "early March."

When I asked Microsoft yesterday about NoDo's whereabouts, I received no response.

On March 9, Microsoft France posted to its public-relations blog (FRogz.fr) a note claiming that NoDo will be coming in the second half of March 2011. There was no further word from that site as to what's behind the push-back. (Microsoft did have problems with a minor WP7 update to the updating mechanism of the phone, which had led some to speculate that NoDo would come later rather than sooner.)

I asked Microsoft U.S. whether NoDo will be going to all WP7 users on some date in the second half of this month, or if this will be a staged rollout. So far, I've received no response, but will update this post if/when I do.

Update No. 1: Microsoft PR in the U.S. said they are "looking into" the NoDo update situation. More to come (I hope).

I heard from one of my WP7 contacts today that Microsoft's new target date for the NoDo rollout is the week of March 21.

All I know is the drumbeat for Microsoft to get this update out there is getting louder and louder. Even some kind of explanation from Microsoft about what's happening would go a long way, at this point, to calming the growing worries about WP7's future.