March 16th, 2010 | 
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For the indi iPhone app developers, making ends meet these day might seem difficult. Spend a month or more working feverishly on a project to find yourself amongst a pile of competing apps all bidding for buyers at the bottom of the barrel 99 cent price point. Bringing in $20 per week is doing well. Hardly an income to live on.
Fortunately, the iPhone app boat isn’t the only boat sailing and the more available platforms, the more possibilities and greater market penetration available. Android and Blackberry are already two other platforms that cater to app developers, although arguably not as well (it is safe to assume that this will change). Another emerging market is that of the Windows 7 phone.
At the MIX 2010 conference this week, Microsoft showed off some of the tools that Windows 7 Phone developers will have in their arsenal. In a nutshell, developers will be packing heat Visual Studio style with the XNA or Silverlight platforms.
Requirements for a developer are, at minimum, in a complete polarization from Apple, a Windows PC and Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2010. This is good. C# has a advantages over Objective-C (in my opinion). With the likes of garbage collection, it could be probably be considered simpler to program with. And for those “I’m (usually) a PC” guys who might consider switching from iPhone development, the home and end keys will work again. Assuming that the Visual Studio crowd outnumbers the XCode crowd a billion to one (not exactly), Microsoft is likely sittin pretty with so many devs already familiar with the tools. Of course, developers will still need to pick up the lingo of the XNA or Silverlight worlds. For Android and Blackberry developers, familiar with Java, the similarity of C# should make it an easy port.
Taking a look at the distribution models that developers will have at their disposal, app monetization will be come in the form of app purchases, with the possibility of developers offering demos or trials. As one would also suspect, advertising will also be available but unlike recent innovations in the iPhone camp, Microsoft doesn’t seem to be offering any in-app purchasing (yet anyway).
All in all, I can see this platform taking off from a developer perspective, assuming that Microsoft also creates a straight forward app distribution model and the app approval process isn’t hampered. Given Microsoft’s success with XBox Live, I suspect that, although there may be growing pains in its maturing, Windows Phone 7 will have a fairly robust (and successful) app program, quite probably leading to an increased usage of the Windows mobile platform. Time will tell. But in the meantime, download a copy of the development tools now and get your WinFart apps ready for deployment!
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Microsoft is not any stranger to having partners galore in the phone enterprise, however its lineup of manufacturers for the upcoming, surprisingly promising Home windows Phone 7 launch is no much less impressive. After plenty of rumoring, Microsoft has confirmed that Dell and HTC might be making Windows Phone 7 phones, in addition to ASUS, LG, and Samsung who had already been confirmed. All of those corporations ought to have their stamp on hardware by the tip of the 12 months, with the launch of the OS still vaguely slated for the “holidays” We have now little doubt that all five manufacturers can build some compelling, horny hardware, however we’re notably enthused to see Dell really getting into the sport after the impressive Streak and that drool worthy leak a short while back. learn extra at http://www.wp7forum.com fans group.