Microsoft has unveiled its developer platform for the Windows Phone 7 Series, introducing an end-to-end development environment including free tools.
LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft has unveiled its developer platform for the
Windows Phone 7 Series, introducing an end-to-end development
environment including free tools
At its MIX 2010 conference
here, Microsoft officials Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET
Developer Platform, and Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president, Windows
Phone Program Management, detailed the opportunity for developers to
use proven technologies such as Microsoft Silverlight and the XNA
Framework to build new mobile applications and 3-D Games.
Microsoft had previously indicated that Silverlight and XNA would be key to the Windows Phone 7 Series application development story.
"As the browser, server, Web and devices evolve, a focus on
delivering consistently great user experiences has become paramount,"
Guthrie said, in a statement. "By extending our familiar platform
technologies and tools to phones, Microsoft is delivering the premier
application development experience across a variety of devices and form
factors."
During the keynote, Microsoft provided the first deep dive into
Windows Phone 7 Series application development. By combining
Silverlight features for rich application development and the XNA
Framework for games, Windows Phone 7 Series empowers millions of
developers and designers to build visually stunning and immersive
applications and games - one of the industry's most profitable mobile
application categories - while taking advantage of device-specific
capabilities. Specifically, developers will be able to take advantage
of the following features:
- Accelerometer, an intuitive control that responds to motion
- A Microsoft
Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference
to acquire location information
- Microsoft
Notification Service for pushing information to the phone, regardless
of whether or not an application is running
- Hardware-accelerated video with digital rights management (DRM)
- Internet
Information Services Smooth Streaming for the industry's highest
quality content viewing experience
- Multitouch
- Camera and microphone support
"Windows Phone 7 Series brings together a rich application
environment, powerful hardware, a fresh approach to software and a
smart new design," Belfiore said, in a statement. "It was designed to
generate incredible opportunities for developers and designers to
quickly and easily deliver compelling applications and games. With the
best developer tools, an established ecosystem and marketplace, and a
path for developers to use their Silverlight and XNA Framework skill
sets, we are delivering an application platform that is simple,
powerful and inspiring."
Microsoft also announced the availability of Visual Studio 2010
Express for Windows Phone, which is specifically designed for building
Windows Phone applications and is now available free in a single
download at www.developer.windowsphone.com. Visual Studio 2010 Express
includes an emulator that will allow developers to build and test their
applications directly on their PCs in a virtualized Windows Phone 7 OS
environment. That means developers won't need the phone hardware to get
started at building phone apps.
In addition, Microsoft also showed how developers and designers will
be able to bring applications and games to market with a new Windows
Phone Marketplace. The Marketplace features a panoramic design and
active merchandising to increase the discoverability of games and
applications, and supports one-time credit card purchases, mobile
operator billing and advertising-funded applications. The Marketplace
also will enable customers to try applications before buying them and
allow developers to cross-promote their applications through deep
linking.
Several leading companies will be creating exciting applications and
games for Windows Phone 7 Series. They include The Associated Press,
Archetype International Inc., AWS Convergence Technologies -
WeatherBug, Citrix Systems Inc., Clarity Consulting Inc., Cypress
Consulting, EA Mobile, Fandango Inc., Foursquare Labs Inc., frog design
inc., Glu Mobile Inc., Graphic.ly, Hudson Entertainment Inc.,
IdentityMine Inc., IMDb.com Inc., Larva Labs, Match.com LLC, Matchbox
Mobile Ltd., Microsoft Game Studios, Namco Networks America Inc.,
Oberon Media Inc., Pageonce Inc., Pandora Media Inc., Photobucket Inc.,
PopCap Games Inc., Seesmic, Shazam Entertainment Ltd., Sling Media, SPB
Software Inc., stimulant, TeleCommunications Systems Inc., Touchality
LLC and Vertigo Software Inc.
Meanwhile, Microsoft will include free tools for developers to use.
To further support an end-to-end development experience, Microsoft
announced the availability of comprehensive tools support for Windows
Phone 7 Series. The easy-to-install package includes previews of the
following:
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
- Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC
- XNA Game Studio 4.0
- Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing
- Expression Blend
for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview (available as a separate
download).
All the latest from MIX10 is available at
http://live.visitmix.com/press, including downloads of tools for
Windows Phone 7 Series, the Silverlight 4 RC and Expression Blend 4
Beta, which will be available today.
Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.
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