WP7

In late January, Microsoft began working with wireless carriers to roll out the long awaited Windows Phone 7.8 update to a number of older Windows Phone devices. Now there are reports that Microsoft has halted its rollout and it may be due to an issue with the Live Tiles feature.

As reported earlier this month, some people who received the update have since claimed the Live Tiles are not updating as they should. These issues could cause smartphones with Windows Phone 7.8 to use up their battery power faster than normal, and even to consume excessive amounts of data.

Microsoft officials said in November last year that the 7.8 update would be preloaded on new Windows Phone handsets aimed at specific markets, and then pushed to existing Windows Phone 7.x handset users in "early 2013."

If you are a Windows Phone user with a different handset, when will you get the update? I asked Microsoft and officials declined to comment. I'm guessing this lack of comment is because Microsoft isn't controlling when the carriers will push this. But otherwise, all I can say is SIGH!

Nokia has responded to a recent ZDNet Mobile News article that pointed out the partnership with Microsoft, the owner of Skype, is causing trouble with the carriers affecting sales of the Lumia phones. In that article Nokia watcher Tomi Ahonen used comments by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to gather he was claiming sales were lost due to the Skype deal.

At long last, Skype for Windows is now available a couple of months after the beta version was announced at Mobile World Congress, and launched a short while after that. The official Skype for Windows is now available over at the Windows Phone Marketplace, where you can also opt to retrieve the app straight from your Windows Phone itself, although it might take up to two days (48 hours) for Skype for Windows to propagate in all local Windows Phone Marketplaces.

Let me repeat that a little more verbosely. Watch for Windows Phone to grab a serious hunk of market share at the end of 2012. No doubt about it. "Huh?" you ask. Believe it.

The Feibus-is-crazy club most assuredly is enjoying a surge in membership right about now. And why not? There is certainly plenty of evidence to suggest that Windows Phone thus far has underwhelmed.

We've expressed concern about the prospects of upgrading current first—and second—generation Windows Phone handsets to Windows Phone 8, codenamed Apollo, when it is released later this year. Microsoft refuses to commit publicly, and we've heard from employees within the company that some or all current users won't be able to upgrade, even those who buy new, second-generation devices. Others have heard similar tales.

The legalized Jailbreak that was organized by Microsoft and a group of hackers called ChevronWP7 is over. There are no more unlock tokens to be had and one of the strangest incidents you could imagine is over.

The ChevronWP7 group engineered a jailbreak for WP7. Then Microsoft got annoyed and then they offered the group some T-Shirts and help building a legal jailbreak. Everything went quiet for a while and then the ChevronWP7 Labs website appeared offering "legal" unlock tokens at $9 a time.

Marketing folks at Microsoft are in a bit of a pickle, after Microsoft's scheme to prove that Windows Phone software is faster than the competition has backfired.

Redmond cleared a marketing programme which claimed to award a $1000 laptop to anyone who could prove their iPhone or Android phone was quicker. The Smoked by Windows Phone campaign turned out to be a bit foggy when an Android user was shown to beat a Windows Phone and started to want recognition.

Nokia officially announced the Lumia 610, a budget Windows Phone handset, at Mobile World Congress Sunday. The phone's hardware is pretty bare-bones, but it will lead the charge for the updated, low-end-optimized Windows Phone OS that Microsoft hopes will help it conquer new territory like China.

The Lumia 610 has a 3.7-inch 480×800 screen, only 256MB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and an 800MHz processor. The phone also has a 5-megapixel camera and a shiny plastic bezel, and is set to debut in Europe for only €189 ($254) off-contract in the second quarter of this year.

Microsoft's renewed push for its Windows Phone platform centers on Mango, an update with hundreds of tweaks and features. Over the next few months, manufacturers such as Nokia will push an array of new smartphones boasting the software.