When Will Australia’s Carriers Get Windows Phone 7 Updates?


The first official update for Windows Phone 7 has started hitting the airwaves. But how quickly can Australian consumers expect to see it through their mobile phone companies?

Microsoft has an unusual approach to updates: carriers can choose to push out alternating updates, so some might choose to miss this relatively minor update and wait for the next one, which promises copy and paste amongst other goodies.

We asked all three companies selling Windows Phone 7 devices in Australia — Telstra, Optus and Vodafone — what their plans were for the current update. Optus had a positive response:

Optus has tested and approved the latest Windows Phone 7 update and Microsoft will release it to our customers shortly.

Telstra was rather less definitive:

We are still working with our handset partners on the update and don’t have a firm release date at this stage

In practice, that sounds like it might be a “wait for the major update” response — not entirely surprising given Telstra has the widest range of Windows Phone 7 handsets and has put the most effort into developing its own presence on the phone.

Only Vodafone is committed to both updates:

The February 2011 software update is expected to be released next week. The subsequent software update is expected in early March.

So a mixed response overall, but faster updates than we often see with (ahem) Android.

Thanks Beau for the idea!


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