Microsoft has finally released the next update to Windows Phone, otherwise known as Mango, to manufacturing.

Now, before you start getting all excited and everything, this doesn’t mean you are going to see it anytime soon on your Windows Phone.  This just means that the update is now in the hands of the carriers so they can do their testing.

As any Windows Phone user will remember, (such as myself) this is the same thing we experienced when it came to the NoDo update and the horror stories about the wait for it to be pushed out

Based on past experience, I think that carriers couldn’t care less about updates, and will do whatever they can to drag their feet.

It’s one thing to push the Mango update, but it is going to be entirely a different matter to finally get it on our phones. So, as much as Microsoft might have liked to let everyone know that Mango has arrived early, it was expected in the fall, the reality is that if the carriers remain true to form we might actually get the update by Christmas at the earliest, or by next year at the latest.

Hopefully I am proven wrong here and the carriers get this much anticipated update for Windows Phone tested and released as soon as possible.  A delay of any kind could be a death knell for Microsoft’s mobile ambitions.

[Cross-posted at Winextra]