Windows Phone

Can you believe it? It’s already been 6 months since the Windows Phone team unveiled their next-generation mobile phone, Windows Phone 7. Where does the time go?

Well, that time has been very well spent by some, as an announcement today on the Windows Phone Developer Blog shows; announcing that there have been over 300,000 downloads of the Windows Phone Developer Tools.

That means that when Windows Phone 7 launches later this year, you can expect quality apps with the most unique use of Windows Phone 7 features at launch. You’ll get to experience how developers around the world will astound you with their creative ideas for features such as the Live tiles, location services and notifications, demonstrating that the experiences a developer can build on Windows Phone 7 is only limited by their imaginations.

For example, Marketplace makes it easier to discover new applications and Live Tiles will give you the ability to get updates from the application without having to enter it. E.g. you could receive Facebook updates in your home screen, without having to enter the application itself.

We mentioned last week on my kind of phone about that the most creative minds in game development are bringing their top titles to Windows Phone 7, including the likes of Gameloft, Konami, Namco Bandai, PopCap and THQ. But it’s not just the big names in development who are going to bring great titles to Windows Phone 7 customers.  Large or small, all developers will have equal opportunity to get their apps or games ready at launch.

If you’re an indie developer, you may be interested to know that just last week the Windows Phone team released a course called the Windows Phone 7 Jump Start, which includes 12 hours of classroom training and supporting exercises.  They have also recently updated the Windows Phone 7 Developer Training Kit and will be releasing many more hours of training in the coming weeks and months…

So that’s all well and good for developers, but what does this mean for Windows Phone fans?

Windows Phone 7 is not only different kind of phone, but is also a phone that has a “different kind of app” that stands out from what’s available elsewhere. The Windows Phone team has shown that Windows Phone 7 doesn’t just have your average apps, but actually enhances apps with unique features like Live tiles and a design system not available anywhere else.  Windows Phone 7 also understands the full context of what you’re trying to do in your everyday life and when you’re on the move, integrating your activity on apps like maps and search so that you can move between them without losing your place or impacting battery life.

So how will you spend the next couple of weeks?

For developers, it will be testing out and fine tuning their apps ready for the big launch of Windows Phone 7.

For us, it will be counting down the days until we get our hands on the fantastic apps and games that the Windows Phone developer community has been working on for the past 6 months. We can’t wait!