Will Windows Mobile 7 Fix The Update Scenario?Will Windows Mobile 7 Fix The Update Scenario?

According to some details in a job posting, Ars Technica is reporting that Windows Mobile 7 will finally fix the broken update scenario for the Microsoft platform. Right now, we seem to be dependent on the carriers to get updates and fixes for the platform. Is Microsoft taking control of the process?Since Windows Mobile 5 launched in 2005, there has been a Windows Update icon in the Settings menu that has really not received much of a workout. On the desktop, Windows Update can routinely check the MS servers to see if there are security fixes, service packs, and even recommended add ons, such as Silverlight, for your PC. On the phone, though, the Windows Update icon doesn't seem to do much at all. Even for simple things, such as the various Daylight Savings Time patches, you have to go through the ordeal of finding out that they even exist, then download and manually install them on your device. Forget more advanced downloads that would fix problems or add more functionality to your device.

I suspect that Windows Update on your device doesn't actually point to a Microsoft server, but rather to a carrier or manufacturer's server. Microsoft has bent over backwards to work with carriers and manufacturers to allow them to control and own the user experience and relationship, but that has done nothing but frustrate owners of Windows Mobile devices. Microsoft's recent app store announcement is one indication that Microsoft is through with letting the carriers dictate terms since the carriers don't seem to be doing much with their power, and are interested instead in only selling new devices and $2.49 ringtones.

They should be more interested in releasing patches for the devices that improve the user experience. Back in November of 2008, Microsoft released an e-mail patch that fixed a pretty serious bug in the Windows Mobile 6.1 e-mail client. Did your carrier release that patch to you? No, neither did mine.

Microsoft also periodically releases AKU's, or what I call service packs, for the platform, but rarely do carriers release these to the end user. My biggest frustration was with AKU 2.0 for Windows Mobile 5 devices. My wife had a T-Mobile SDA and even though MS gave that AKU out for free to all manufacturers and carriers, T-Mobile decided to never bother giving it to users, so a device barely 6 months old was missing one of the most touted features of WinMo 5 -- push e-mail.

Hopefully Ars Technica is right. MS is looking for someone to fix the update scenario in Windows Mobile and users should start seeing patches, updates, and maybe even a new feature or two trickle down to their device automatically instead of waiting to see if the carrier will bother releasing it to us, which almost never happens. MS has a number of issues it has to resolve to take back some of the limelight stolen by the iPhone. One of those is controlling more of the user experience. Steve Jobs had it right when he insisted that Apple would handle the App Store and device updates, letting AT&T sell the device and service contracts. I have no doubt that if AT&T controlled the device completely, few if any iPhone updates would have ever been released to existing device owners and the app store would consist of little more than ringtones, wallpaper, and over-priced games, because that is exactly what has happened with the Windows Mobile platform.