Windows Phone 7 update delayed

The much anticipated update to the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system has been delayed following the problematic revision of its software last month.

Although the February update was only a minor change to the software, it caused a number of customers problems when it was rolled out, including deleting their data and crashing handsets.

As a result, Microsoft decided to delay the release of its much more significant update announced by Steve Ballmer at Mobile World Congress that is set to incorporate new features such as copy and paste, multitasking and a mobile-optimised version of Internet Explorer 9.

"We have the next update waiting in the wings," said Eric Hautala, general manager of customer experience engineering for the mobile arm of Microsoft, in a blog.

"But I believe it's important that we learn all we can from the February update. So I've decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners."

The update is now set to go out in the second half of March but a specific day has yet to be confirmed.

Although Hautala initially played down the size of the issue in the last update, claiming the "overwhelming majority" of users downloaded it successfully, he did pledge to learn from the mistakes made.

"Let me be crystal clear: We're not satisfied when problems prevent you from enjoying the latest Windows Phone updates," he said. "When we find an issue, we study and fix it."

"To that end, we're carefully studying the current update process and will apply the lessons learned from it to all future ones. This is how we get better."

Microsoft recently signed a deal with Nokia, enabling the Finnish firm to use Windows Phone 7 as its primary mobile OS for its handsets.