Windows Phone 7– Where are you?

Lets face it – I am a big gadget fan. 

I am also a fan of Microsoft Technology.  This is probably because of my deep involvement in Microsoft Development. 

I currently have a Samsung Blackjack Windows Mobile phone running Windows Mobile 6.0 and for a while I have been drooling over the new iPhones and Android Smartphones.  But my contract with Rogers is not up for renewal until March 2011.

However, my wife’s contract is overdue for renewal – and so we approached Rogers about what they would be willing to do if we both upgraded our phones now – threatening to move to Telus or Bell if we didn’t get the deal we wanted. 

Rogers gave us a great offer and so we decided to go ahead and upgrade from them.

Since the new Windows Phone 7 platform was announced at MIX I have been interested in trying to develop for the platform – after all its Silverlight, a technology that should be relatively easy for me to work with as an ASP.NET developer. 

Most people say that you need to use a platform to develop for it, and its been getting great reviews anyway, so we decided to “order” two new Samsung Focus phones. 

The Samsung Focus appears to be the best of the first batch of Windows phones, with its Super AMOLED screen, so the fact that this was the phone being offered “exclusively” by Rogers was great.

That was nearly 3 weeks ago – the Windows Phone 7 launch in North America was Nov 8th.  And still no phone.  My son Andrew who works for Microsoft and was not allowed to get his “free” phone until Nov 18th received his Focus from AT&T last week – but still no Samsung Focus phones in Canada.

Rogers said if we found the phone in a store before they were able to ship us one – we could buy the phone through a Rogers “store”, and we have been phoning all the local stores almost daily – they must be getting fed up with us by now – but still no phone.

What’s up? Who is at fault here?  Is it Samsung for shipping all their phones to the US for the product launch?  Or is it Rogers fault for not getting their order in early enough to get all the branding, that all carriers add, done? 

My feeling is that the culprit is Rogers – as there does not appear to be a shortage of Focus phones in the US.  I am beginning to lose my patience and I am seriously considering switching to Bell – who have their Windows Phone 7 phone in stock in our local store.

Regardless – at some point in the near future I will have a new Windows Phone 7 phone, and I have already started work on a development project, so you’ll be hearing more about this new toy.