Microsoft today announced that the final version of its Windows Phone Developer Tools will be available to developers on September 16th.
These first six months have affirmed that a rich application platform based on the well understood Silverlight and XNA technologies, combined with great free tools based on Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend is the right approach for enabling developers and designers of all skill levels who are looking to capitalize on the opportunities presented by Windows Phone 7. Throughout the process, the developer community has continued to astound us with their creative ideas. Their use of the unique Windows Phone 7 features – like our design system, Live tiles, and location and notifications services – demonstrate that the experiences a developer can build on Windows Phone 7 match their imaginations.
The final version of the developer tools will include several highly requested Silverlight controls and the ability to drop the panorama, pivot and Bing maps controls into applications but may also introduce some “minor breaking changes from the Beta tools,” requiring a bit of bug fixing.
Microsoft also revealed that the Windows Phone Marketplace will open for submissions in early October. An updated set of Windows Phone Marketplace policies is now available to explain Microsoft’s process for certifying apps and games.
To date, the Windows Phone Developer Tools have been downloaded over 300,000 times.