When the Windows Phone marketplace went offline, many were wondering what the root cause of the issue was and how long it would take to be fixed. After approximately seven hours of downtime, the service returned and users were again able to download and update their favorite applications.
But what was the cause? Microsoft posted on the Windows Phone blog that the downtime was related to maintenance performed the previous night. Microsoft states:
We regret any inconvenience this disruption caused the impacted customers and our developer community. The problem was the result of scheduled maintenance being performed on Microsoft’s infrastructure during the night. The root cause of this issue has been identified and steps are being taken to help prevent future disruptions to the Marketplace service.
While the down time was unfortunate, Microsoft remains to be transparent with issues which is a refreshing shift from the practices of the past. Microsoft is currently in a battle to show the world that WP7 is a true contender in the market. The alternative interface, compared to other platforms on the market, and its unique approach of one OS, multiple hardware iterations, is a combination strategy that Microsoft hopes to win over users in the market.
Going forward, Microsoft will update WP7 with "Mango" or as it is now being called WP7.5, to bring more features to the platform. With Nokia coming on to help create hardware for WP7, the future is bright for the platform, that is, as long as it keeps the updates rolling out in a timely fashion.