Microsoft starts rolling out a pre-'NoDo' update for Windows Phone 7
On February 21, Microsoft officials told Windows Phone 7 (WP7) users that the company had started rolling out the first update for Windows Phone 7. — Before you copy-and-paste-happy WP7 fans begin salivating …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has begun pushing the first update to Windows Phone 7 devices, framed explicitly as a prelude to the fuller 'NoDo' release that WP7 owners have been waiting on since launch. Coming days after reports of a multibillion-dollar software deal with Nokia — still unconfirmed by either party — the company is under pressure to show its year-old mobile platform is being actively maintained.
The move lands amid a stretch of mobile-side noise around Microsoft: unconfirmed reports that Marketplace terms may be loosened to accept more open-source licenses, and executive silence on the Zune brand that analysts read as signaling the line's fate. Against that backdrop, a routine servicing update doubles as a proof point for the platform's operational credibility.
First-order effects
- WP7 handset owners receive an over-the-air servicing update now, with the feature-rich NoDo release they actually want left as a separate later step — Microsoft is testing the update pipeline on real devices before shipping the bigger payload.
Second-order effects
- Carrier and OEM partners get an early rehearsal of Microsoft's update process, which matters because the rumored Nokia hardware partnership would put Windows Phone on the world's largest handset maker and make reliable update delivery far more visible.
Third-order effects
- If staged pre-updates become the pattern, phone OS maintenance shifts from launch-and-forget toward continuous servicing — the model that will determine whether Microsoft can hold developers and carriers against established mobile rivals while it scales toward Nokia.
The trend: Smartphone platforms are treating operating-system updates as an ongoing service relationship with users and carriers rather than a one-time launch event.