Microsoft Has Just About Guaranteed My Next Device Will Be An iPhone

I've been using Windows Phone/Mobile devices for years. Microsoft's inability to get updates out to consumers though means something miraculous would have to happen for me to upgrade to a new Windows Phone device later this year.

Updates with the older generation Windows Mobile devices were rarer than  an Amish person showing up at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Microsoft had suggested this was fixed with Windows Phone, where it would roll out the updates once the carriers approved it. This took the burden of distribution off of the carriers.

The carriers though, at least in the US, have figured out a way to keep the updates out of the hands of the users. They simply don't approve updates. Pure genius. This wasn't hard to predict. In fact, a recent change in how Microsoft reported updates indicated the company is far more interested in serving the needs of its customers rather than you and me. No longer would the software giant let us know by carrier where the updates are. That means users are less likely to know that updates are out and won't call their carrier pestering them about fixes and patches and pointing out carriers that have rolled it out, mostly in Europe of course.

Few in the US have received any updates after the big Mango upgrade in the fall of 2011. That wouldn't be a problem except Mango introduced a few bugs, like the infamous disappearing keyboard. This has been fixed, but no US carriers have bothered to release it.

Recently, AT&T stated that no phones would be getting the latest round of updates. I know Verizon couldn't possibly care less either.

Total failure Microsoft. Unless I see that Nokia fixes this situation in the next few months, which is highly doubtful, I'll be getting the iPhone 5, safe in the knowledge that Apple will be providing updates for 2 years for the phone, not the 4-5 months Verizon supported the Trophy.

That is a shame too. The reason I have Windows Phone 7 is in many ways it is superior to the iPhone. Having patches out there though that fix known bugs that affect me, but being unable to get them, negatively affects my experience. I'd rather lose some features and functionality and have something that works instead of using something that feels like an abandoned beta product. Try typing an email on your phone and have the keyboard disappear on you 3-4 times while typing it out and you'll quickly see what I mean.