“Stop the presses!”, Microsoft yelled yesterday. Or they sort of did. Not literally. At least I don’t think. It seems that over the last several days, Windows Phone users (stop that, there are some) have found it impossible to install new apps due to a faulty authentication certificate. It only affects phones that upgraded to Windows Phone 7.5 operating system, not those who bought the phones with that pre-installed. Microsoft says it’s working on a fix but for the meantime nothing new is being published.
That’s kind of a huge bummer for a smartphone platform that is desperately trying to catch up with Apple and Android (and losing big in the process). And there are some late nights in Redmond, Washington as the company gears up for the October launch of Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface tablet.

The company says you shouldn’t delete the apps and hope to reinstall them again right away. Might not work.