Microsoft admit 10% of Windows Phone 7’s got bricked

Yesterday we reported that a recent Microsoft update for Windows Phone 7 was the cause of bricking. According to Microsoft, 90% of the people who actually got the update notification and started the process have managed to complete it successfully. 90% seems like a good number to be quoting, but what happens if 2 million people have tried the patch? Thats almost a quarter of a million phones dead in the water.

Microsoft add that of the 10 percent who did experience a problem, nearly half failed for two reasons – ‘a bad internet connection or insufficient computer storage space'. Forgive me for sounding too sensible, but why would a phone try a critical patch without verifying the data was intact or checking that there was actually enough room in the first place for the potentially fatal upgrade?

Since Windows Phone 7 was released Microsoft are claiming that over 2 million have been shipped, even if only 1 million have sold, then it is potentially still 100,000 people who are facing the hassles of returning the phone to the store they bought it from, for a replacement.

This is certainly not going to help Microsoft to gain marketshare, they are already have problems competing with Apple and Google phones, but this high profile software update failure will certainly cause concern for potential customers. We have used a few of the latest Microsoft phones and they do seem to be making good progress, but people aren't likely to jump into a new platform with open arms after hearing that a first critical patch has went drastically wrong.

KitGuru says: Where you affected by the patch? Have you had to return your phone?

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