Microsoft Begins Rolling Out Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango”

Microsoft promised just a few days back that the Windows Phone 7.5 update (otherwise known as “Mango”, because updates need funny little names now) would roll out “sometime in the next week or two” — and sure enough, said roll out has just begun.

As for who it’s rolling out to… that’s still a bit of a mystery.

Check out this statement:

Today we’re starting the roll out of Windows Phone 7.5 to more than 98 percent of existing Windows Phone customers. This is a simultaneous, coordinated, global update that cuts across carriers, phone models, and countries. This time, almost everybody is going first.

Then, just a few sentences later:

So we’re deliberately starting out slow. This week, we’ll be making the update available to 10 percent of customers.

So, good news: Hurray! 98% of people will get the update beginning today! Everybody goes first!
But the bad news: only 10% of people actually get to install and use it.

A slow roll out makes sense, of course; previous Windows Phone 7 updates have gone as sour as to brick handsets. Their message just isn’t entirely clear, and their “Where’s my update?” isn’t very helpful: again, they say they’re “delivering” the update today, with a special little asterisk clarifying that the update might not actually go live for a few weeks. Messy.

Forgotten what’s new in Windows Phone 7.5? Here’s quick recap of the highlights:

• Facebook Places support integrated
• Dynamic Live Tiles for third party developers
• Contacts can be grouped and pinned to homescreen
• Twitter/LinkedIn support
• Windows Live Messenger and Facebook Chat
• Threaded messages and e-mail
• Bing Stuff (Audio identifier, QR code reader, Album/CD cover detector, etc)
• New camera UI
• Internet Explorer 9
• Ringtone management
• Front facing camera support
• Optional, depending on the carrier: Visual voicemail, internet tethering