Customer Frustration Growing Over Windows Phone 7 'NoDo' Update Delay

"We’ve begun to gradually roll out the Copy and Paste update, starting small with customers with open market phones this week. More to come," Greg Sullivan, Microsoft senior product manager for Windows Phone, said in an e-mail.

The NoDo update is currently only available for users of unbranded and unlocked smartphones. And as first noted by the blog Winrumors, it’s still unclear when the update will be available to branded U.S. carrier phones.

As the days tick by, customers are apparently becoming more frustrated with the situation. Evidence of the discontent can be found on Microsoft's Windows Phone blog, where several posters vented their spleen Tuesday in a blog post that had nothing to do with the NoDo update.

"The phone and OS is really nice. But the constant delay of the NoDo update is making me lose my trust on the platform," wrote poster 'irayaspirit.'

"I think it's less about the actual firmware updates, and more about anxiety regarding what we can expect from Microsoft in the future," wrote poster 'deeply_embedded.'

"This update this has become way more than just an update. This has become a test to see how Microsoft will handle all future updates and even more importantly, how they will share information. So far they are failing miserably," wrote poster 'chris2722.'

While many posters focused their wrath on Microsoft, several also pointed the finger at AT&T, Microsoft's "premier partner" for Windows Phone 7. "I blame most of the actual delays on AT&T. However, I blame Microsoft squarely for the stupidly persistent choice to remain silent," wrote poster 'Robert Wade,' who described the Microsoft-AT&T partnership as "a disaster."

The NoDo update includes long-awaited copy and paste functionality, as well as improved Marketplace (Microsoft's app store) search, better application performance and Facebook integration, and tweaks to Wi-Fi, audio and camera.

Microsoft delayed the release of NoDo earlier this month, citing the need for additional testing in the wake of a preliminary Windows Phone 7 update released in February that caused problems for 10 percent of customers who downloaded it and bricked some Samsung smartphones.

"We work closely with our carrier partners, and encourage them to test our software as swiftly as possible. But it’s still their network, and the reality is that some carriers require more time than others," Eric Hautala, Microsoft general manager of customer experience engineering, said in a March 10 blog post.

Meanwhile, AT&T's Windows Phone 7 subscribers, some of whom say they've yet to receive the February Windows Phone 7 update, on Wednesday pressed the carrier for more details on the NoDo update in a thread on Facebook. An AT&T spokesperson did weigh in, but their response probably isn't going to do much to quell subscribers' thirst for information on the NoDo update.

"We know you’re eager to update your devices. As with all updates from manufacturers, carriers need to work closely with the manufacturer to test the update prior to pushing it out to customers," the AT&T spokesperson said in the Facebook thread.