Microsoft continues to take heat over delays in its Windows Phone update program, with corporate vice president Joe Belfiore admitting in a comment on the Channel 9 blog that the process has been “rocky.” Belfiore appeared in a Channel 9 video on Friday to talk about the update process, but that message sparked another wave of criticism with users suggesting that Belfiore was out-of-touch.
One user wrote:
“Not happy about this whole update fiasco. Why am I still waiting for an update that was scheduled to be delievered weeks ago? Joe B. needs to head over to the Widnows Phone Blog and see what the actual users are saying about this mess.”
In a candid response to the criticism, Belfiore said he was wrong to suggest that users had received the March update.
“I am a very, very big advocate for all our end-users and developers, and it bothers me a lot if I sounded out of touch. I wasn’t as prepared for this interview as I should have been—I walked into the studio with an informal state of mind, thinking about MIX and what we WILL be talking about, and I didn’t have the right up-to-date information to give a good explanation on updates which I know to be a very high-interest topic right now.
I have read all of the comments here (and many of them on the other blogs) and so has pretty much everyone in our management team. We know it’s been frustrating to wait for features/fixes and (probably worse) to hear little from us on specific dates. We are sorry the process has been rocky. The “where’s my phone update” table is our first step to try to remedy this in the face of technical problems that have made our first wave of updates take longer than we expected. We know the table would benefit greatly from more detail, and we are hoping to add more to it by working with the Operators who own the “testing” phase to get more clarity. If your phone is shown in “scheduling”, it’ll be worth checking the table next week.”
As Todd Bishop reported last week, an update release may seem like a minor development. But the company — facing tough competition from Android and Apple’s iPhone — needs its most loyal customers on board if it is going to get back into the game.
[Via Winrumors, which also has video of some of Belfiore’s comments]
