Google’s Honeycomb code-release setback is not alone in the “OS update tardiness” category. Microsoft issues a public apology for slow development on its Windows Phone 7 program update. The common weak link from these letdowns: relying on carriers and third party to take responsibility of updates—a lesson learned early by Apple, which seized ownership of mobile OS updates from the beginning. Microsoft devolved on AT&T and now faces the nightmare of customer’s rage.

Microsoft’s VP of the Windows Phone Program, Joe Belfiore, takes the heat and faces the rants pertaining to the OS update mess. He said, “Many of you are making critical comments here which are certainly fair. First, I was wrong when I said most people have received the February update. There are many of you who have yet to receive it, and I don’t blame you for speaking up and pointing out my mistake.

“Second, I referred to our updates as “complete” because I was thinking of the internal process where we pass completed software to another group who delivers them – but of course no update is complete until you all have it.  Plus, at the time I did the interview we had started the NoDo (“march update”) delivery process and I knew “it was going well” from our perspective:  people were officially getting it, the success rate of its deployment on real-world phones was looking good, and we were happy that the process had STARTED well.  Still—these are NOT the same as all of you getting it and I’m sorry that I came across as insensitive to that fact.”

This impediment is quite frustrating, especially when Windows Phone 7 marketplace trial apps fared well. It has been a fiery week for Microsoft with news on investing in IPv4, joining the Open Networking Foundation, Nook lawsuit, Intune launch and Windows Phone 7 delay. With its hopes of regaining mobile stance dependent on updates, Microsoft should now grab the “updating arm” from its carriers.