Windows Phone 7 update delayed

Microsoft is delaying its first major software update to its mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 until the second half of March.

The company had planned to roll out the update in the first two weeks of March. The delay is due to technical problems with a minor update to the OS in February, which resulted in Microsoft pulling the update on Samsung devices.

Eric Hautala, general manager of customer experience engineering at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post, "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. As a result, our plan is to start delivering the copy-and-paste update in the latter half of March."

Hautala confirmed that future updates would not be affected by the delay.

"With nine handsets on 60 mobile operators in 30 countries around the world, things can get a little complicated," said Hautala.

The update is expected to include copy-and-paste features as well as improved Marketplace search.