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Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

Summary: Microsoft will begin pushing the Windows Phone Mango operating system update to existing Windows Phone users in another week or two, officials said on September 21.

Mary Jo Foley

By for All About Microsoft |

Microsoft is ready to begin rolling out the Windows Phone "Mango" operating system release to existing customers "in the next week or two," according to a September 21 post on the Windows Phone blog.

Mango includes an HTML5-compliant IE 9 Mobile browser; third-party application multitasking; Twitter integration; and Windows Live Messenger integration, new Bing search capabilities and other new features. Microsoft delivered the RTM (release to manufacturing) bits of Windows Phone OS 7.1 to handset makers and carriers for testing and customization back in late July.

Microsoft is the one that pushes the phone update to its Windows Phone customers (once the carriers give their OK). The Softies said they will be refreshing -- starting in the coming week-plus --the "Where's My Phone Update" site to reflect the rollout status of Mango for all phones and carriers globally.

More details from today's post from Windows Phone General Manager, Customer Experience Engineering Eric Hautala:

"During the official Windows Phone 7.5 update process, every Windows Phone will also receive software from the handset manufacturer. This matched and paired firmware has been painstakingly tuned so your phone—and apps—work with all the new features of Windows Phone 7.5. Since your phone requires the proper firmware to function as designed, my advice is simple: steer clear of bootleg updates and homebrew tools."

Microsoft recently released new versions of the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac users, as well as an update to the Zune software client (version 4.8) for Windows PCs, which are necessary for updating phones to Mango.

New Windows Phone devices preloaded with Mango have been rolling out gradually from various providers, including Fujitsu Toshiba. Nokia is expected to take the wraps off its first Windows Phone, code-named "SeaRay" in the not-too-distant future (possibly at the Nokia World conference in late October in London).

Speaking of Nokia, there are a number of Microsoft execs speaking at the upcoming Nokia World show. Microsoft is making a concerted effort to attract Nokia developers to the Windows Phone platform, launching a packet of information, along with a mapping tool for Symbian Qt app developers looking to build apps and port their apps to Windows Phone.

As a Windows Phone user, I'm hoping -- along with everyone else who is -- that Microsoft has gotten its update act together since its mishaps with NoDo. I'm also hoping the U.S. phone users, especially those of us on Verizon, aren't the last ones to get the coming update (but am expecting the worst).

Topics: Mobility, Microsoft, Nokia, Operating Systems, Software, Telcos, Windows

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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  • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

    Woohoo! I've been running Mango for several months now and couldn't be happier - this is far and away the best phone experience available today. Period. Doubly-so if you're a developer - the Windows Phone developer toolset, frameworks and experience leaves iOS/'Droid in the dust.

    Can't wait for everyone else to be able to experience the Mango goodness :)
    bitcrazed
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

      @bitcrazed Couldn't agree with you more. Hopefully, everyone will join us in the Mango camp soon.
      StuBeef
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

      @bitcrazed +1
      Skippy99
      Reply Vote

    • Better than HP

      @bitcrazed It's good to see the Microsoft employees cheering their stuff on.
      Robert Hahn
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

        @Robert Hahn. If you're referring to me, I am not a Microsoft employee.
        bitcrazed
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

    Yay! :D
    The one and only, Cylon Centurion
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

    I hate the fact that, Microsoft can't roll out Mango before iPhone. Again, iPhone 5 will steal the show and people visiting ATT/verizon stores will only bother about iPhone 5, even though Mango update is awesome. Microsoft's timing and marketing is pathetic.
    animageofmine1
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

      @animageofmine1 <br><br>Cut the crap, iPhone 5 hasn't even been announced yet. It usually takes Apple 1-3 weeks from announcement to launch a product. Apple's next alleged announcement isn't coming until Oct. 4th. That give's Microsoft at least 3 weeks to actually use some of that marketing warchest it claimed to earmark at the launch of WP7. The concern, as usual, is whether or not Microsoft will actually deliver! Microsoft continues to half ass MSN, Windows Live, SkyDrive and most of the net-centric activities it claims to want to develop further into a more cohesive ecosystem. When it can barely do a few things well, how can you expect Microsoft to get Mango out to many different devices in a timely fashion?
      trollCall
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

    WP7 is by far the slickest , most intuitive, Beautiful and modern OS on the market it makes Android and Iphone feel like old technology.



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    bxbbrian
    Reply Vote

  • I'm guessing...

    Based on the last update, that my phone will be updated some time in Q1 2012... :-S

    T-Mobile (Germany) weren't very quick at getting the last updates out and I don't see them being any quicker this time. I hope that with Mango, I can set my own search service, the T-Mobile search portal is dreadful, I'd much prefer to use Bing or Google as my standard search engine.
    wright_is
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

      @wright_is - Mango was released some time ago to carriers and OEM's. It appears that most of the testing, certification and prep work is now complete and that Microsoft and its carrier partners will begin rolling Mango out on existing handsets in the next couple of weeks.

      The difference is that Microsoft made a lot of noise announcing the release of NoDo *BEFORE* they had handed it off to carriers and OEM's. They then had to wait several months while the carriers etc. tested and certified the release before they could push the updates out.

      As they said in the NoDo post-mortem, they and their OEM/carrier partners learned a lot during NoDo and have put steps in place to avoid a repeat of that release experience.

      I can only hope that Mango's release is smoother than NoDo was. Fingers crossed ;)
      bitcrazed
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

    Microsoft and AT&T both seem to be talking strong about getting the Mango update cycle right. I hope they mean what they say. Getting the update process right is very important to me as a developer and to the enterprise IT managers I work with. If we can't rely on having a secure phone to browse the web with - and frequent updates are a huge part of security - it makes it very difficult to truly embrace mobile devices.<br><br>The Mango Beta we developers received is so good I'm concerned about how long I may have to do without it in order to get the RTM release from AT&T. My WP7 Mango phone has become a critical part of my daily workflow but I believe I will have to revert back to my pre-nodo (because I never received the nodo update from AT&T) backup to received the RTM bits from AT&T. I'm told to expect more information soon about how those of us that have the Mango BETA will be updating to the RTM bits. I just hope we don't have to revert to our mango-less backups for several weeks (or - gulp - months) before AT&T finally allows us to have the update.<br><br>Please, Microsoft, don't just beat your chests about this update. Get it right, get it done quickly, get it done easily. <br><br>Oh - and start doing some better marketing for this fantastic mobile operating system. I see Android commercials all the time, iPhone commercials fairly frequently, but I don't recall EVER having see a WP7 commercial. That is a huge fail. If a consumer (me) doesn't remember ever seeing a WP7 commercial, your marketing team is doing something wrong.
    CochranMA
    Reply Vote

  • How many Windows Phone 7's have beel sold to consumers & activated?

    Total WP7 actual user base?
    HollywoodDog
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to begin pushing Mango phone update to users in 'a week or two'

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