Windows Phone 7.8 coming next year, and users aren't happy

IDG News Service - Microsoft's next OS update for Windows Phone 7 handsets won't be available until sometime in 2013.

The news, posted on a Microsoft blog Wednesday, led to a stream of frustrated comments from Windows Phone users, complaining they will have to wait until at least two months after the launch of Windows Phone 8 to get some of the new features.

Users are upset because the latest release of the OS, Windows Phone 8, isn't compatible with older handsets running Windows Phone 7. The users feel that as early adopters of the OS, they've been abandoned by Microsoft and will soon be abandoned by developers that won't bother releasing software for the older platform.

"I feel like I wasted my money, sadly not recommend to my friends to buy Windows Phone now, one year with my Lumia and now will be abandoned," read one user post. "Disappointed.A Extremely disappointed. Beyond extremely disappointed. The first [Windows Phone 7.8] announcement was in June of 2012.A Five months later, we still don't have it," read another.

The news came in the final paragraph of the post, entitled "An Update on Windows Phone 7.8," that was largely a repeat of some of the new features the update will bring.

"We know you're eager to get the Windows Phone 7.8 update, and we want you to know that we're working closely with our hardware and carrier partners to get it tested, approved, and rolled out to as many devices as possible in early 2013," reads the message.

The blog post is attributed to Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com