"This release doubles the developer audience for Windows Phone, by enabling Visual Basic developers to create applications for Windows Phone, as well as C#," reads a Nov. 29 posting on Microsoft's Visual Basic Team blog. And unlike September's Visual basic CTP for Windows Phone Developer Tools, "the RTW release provides 'Go Live' support, which allows Visual Basic developers to submit their applications to the Windows Phone Marketplace."
Microsoft is also offering a set of code samples for Windows Phone. Those wishing to build with Visual Basic for Windows Phone Developer Tools will need to preinstall the Windows Phone Developer Tools RTW along with Visual Studio 2010 Professional, Premium or Ultimate. Oh yeah, supported operating systems include Windows 7 and Vista. No surprise there.
Windows Phone 7's app library includes some pretty big names, including Netflix, Twitter and LucasArts' "Star Wars." That being said, smaller third-party developers constitute the bulk of a healthy apps ecosystem; and the more of those that Microsoft can attract, the better its chances at taking a serious run against Apple's App Store and Google's Android Marketplace.
Microsoft has specific internal targets for the size of its application storefront, but declines to share those numbers publicly. "We're really focused on quality; we have pretty lofty aspirations," Brandon Watson, Microsoft's director of developer experience for Windows Phone 7, told me in September. "We have to show developers that they can build applications, that they can make money. So we're really focused on the quality of the applications."
That being said, Microsoft might consider moving up its timetable for paying some of the first third-party developers who created apps for the platform. According to TechRepublic blogger Justin James, in a widely-circulated Nov. 19 posting: "There will be no payouts from App Hub until February 2011, and there is no built-in reporting on downloads as of now. These are all things that are supposedly coming, but for the time being they are desperately needed."
When asked about James' blog post--along with a similar complaint from GoVoice developer Nicholas Yu--a Microsoft spokesperson referred me to an Oct. 4 posting by Todd Brix on The Windows Phone Developer Blog.
"Developers can expect the first payout of sales to date to take place in February," reads that posting. With so much data outstanding about Windows Phone 7's marketplace health--there's still no word on how many devices have sold, and developers like Yu are apparently having issues with their demographic reporting--I'm betting any number of third-party developers are biting their nails, waiting to see whether their leap of faith pays off.
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