MIX10: Microsoft outlines Windows Phone 7 Series development tools and strategy

Microsoft Windows Phone

MIX10 kicked off today and Microsoft wasted no time giving developers an overview of the platform technologies that are available for application development across Windows Phone 7 Series and other platforms. As expected, two key technologies are Silverlight and the XNA framework.

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.

The touted capabilities include:

  • An accelerometer
  • 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

Microsoft will release a set of comprehensive tools to allow for an “end-to-end development experience.” Among these tools are Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone with an add-in for Windows Phone 7 Series, a Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing, and Expression Blend for Windows Phone. Previews and betas are now available.

Last but not least, Microsoft will have a new Windows Phone Marketplace. Offering a panoramic design, the store will support trial software, one-time credit card purchases, mobile operator billing and advertising-funded applications.

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