The Windows Phone Update Mystery

Mere days after the debut of Windows Phone 7, it's becoming a bit less clear whether Microsoft can deliver on all the promises they have made in the run-up to release. One of those vows was about the delivery of operating system updates, and it might be beyond Microsoft's power to keep.Microsoft is not providing over-the-air updates for Windows Phone 7, although they did so for beta users. Instead, they'll be delivering updates through the well-established Windows Update infrastructure they use for desktop patches. Although it makes sense for Microsoft, it also puts their mobile platform into second-class citizenship. The idea of mobile devices as peripherals of a PC is so ten-years-ago, and can be summarized by the phone's own message: "To learn more and install this update, connect your phone to your computer."

This isn't a question of whether over-the-air updates are possible, practical, or safe; both the iPhone and some Android phones do updates that way. Perhaps the company just ran out of time to do OTA updates properly, and decided to take a shortcut. Maybe the desktop Windows group actually lobbied to keep themselves in the loop. Or, it may very well be that Microsoft is running up against the wishes of the real decision makers in this business: the carriers.

The relationship between a user and their phone is different than the one between the user and their PC. When a PC goes bad there are plenty of different places you can go to get both the hardware and software serviced. Both third-party service organizations and retail stores can provide help, with a range of options from on-site service to mail-in warranty repairs. With a mobile device, the majority of users inevitably go back to the carrier's store for help. The only exception to this would be the iPhone, where users can go to the Apple Store.

With the carriers being on the hook for so much of the heavy lifting in customer support, they may be concerned about bricked phones or other update issues. Once they've sold the phone at a discounted price and hooked the user into a two-year contract, they don't have an incentive to rock the boat by letting the user update the software a few months down the road. They would prefer to sell the user another phone if the one they have doesn't have the right features.

Once again this underlines the total insanity of the mobile device market in the United States, where the carrier is king. Apple's had the most luck in fighting the status quo, but Google failed in trying to sell the Nexus One in a way that bypassed the carrier. Microsoft may be the next victim, because the current carrier-dominated mobile market prevents the kind of open innovation that nurtured the PC industry.