Microsoft bids to lure developers to Windows Phone 7

One of the many differences between Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft's previous attempts at producing a mobile phone operating system is that the new platform's user interface will be locked down and consistent. Windows Mobile handset manufacturers would often use custom front-ends as a unique selling point, but on Windows Phone 7, that won't be an option. The Metro interface that has been widely demonstrated will be the only UI available. A choice of color scheme is likely to be the only real modification possible.

For the handset vendors, losing the ability to skin the interface, and hence differentiate their products from the competition, may well be an unattractive prospect. In response, it looks like Microsoft is going to help them write appealing custom applications to reinstate that differentiation. A job advertised by the company is looking for a developer to work with a Korean OEM (most likely LG, perhaps Samsung) to help produce unique software to win over consumers.

Whatever these custom applications turn out to be, they're still going to be limited in scope. OEMs will be limited to providing up to six applications taking no more than 60MB, and for the most part will be limited to the same Silverlight API as third-party developers. OEMs will have a handful of—unspecified—extra APIs to work with, but even with these, the days of radically different front-ends on Microsoft-powered phones are coming to an end.

OEMs aren't the only developers that Redmond is trying to entice to its new platform. An iPhone application developer approached PoetGamerck.biz claiming that he'd been offered up-front cash to port his successful iPhone games to Microsoft's new platform.

The amount of money was claimed to be substantial, but not enough to justify the porting effort. iPhone software is written in Objective-C and/or C++, using OpenGL ES for graphics. Migrating to C# and XNA (the managed DirectX-like API used for Windows Phone 7 games) is likely to be a sizable undertaking. Perhaps surprisingly, the source also suggested that Microsoft wouldn't have to change too much to make such ports economically viable. Even if true, the fundamentals of the platform—the use of managed code and C#—are unlikely to change in the near future.

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Windows Phone 7 Marketplace to be porn-free zone

The online store is now a key part of the smartphone platform value proposition. Microsoft's Marketplace, offering a range of software for Windows Mobile 6.x, has been up and running for eight months. Today, the company announced a new set of policies that will be used for the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace.

As with Apple's App Store, Marketplace membership will cost developers $99 per year. For this, they will be able to submit an unlimited number of paid applications (with the same 70/30 split as the Apple store and existing Marketplace) and five free applications. Subsequent free applications will cost $19.99 to submit.

Unlike Apple's store, the Marketplace will also include a mechanism to allow time-limited trial modes. Marketplace applications will be able to use a range of business models: free, paid, ad-funded, and freemium (where basic functionality is free, and premium features are unlocked for a fee).

Also published are the application certification requirements that applications must meet to be allowed in the Marketplace. Just as with the Windows Mobile Marketplace, no porn or sexually suggestive content is allowed. Microsoft is clearly seeking to avoid the controversy that Apple faced when it yanked porn from the store.

Microsoft still hasn't committed to offering any alternative way of loading applications. Businesses wanting their own privately developed, privately deployed software will still have to go via Marketplace. Their programs will still be private, but as things stand, there won't be any mechanism for cutting out the middleman.

Though not as liberal as we would like, the rules don't contain too many surprises. A few requirements are irksome—for example, applications are allowed to offer premium (paid) music services, but if they do, they must also offer sales via the music Marketplace—but it's no real shock that Redmond is playing it safe when it comes to porn and violence.

What is interesting is the application submission policy. The current Marketplace charges $99 for any application submission, which is a stark contrast with competing application stores. The new rules are a lot more competitive, but developers will still end up paying if they wish to submit more than five free applications.

Though there are understandable reasons for this—it will discourage mass submissions of junk applications—it's still surprising that Microsoft would choose to erect this barrier, given the company's relatively weak position within the market. Free applications may also have less of a role on Marketplace. Many of the free programs on Apple's store are just cut-down versions of other, paid applications; with Marketplace's built-in support of trials and freemium software, these free programs might not be necessary anyway.

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Mobile market up, smartphones up, Android and iPhone way up

The mobile phone market is up big for the first quarter of 2010 after sales declines during 2009, according to the latest sales figures released by market research firm Gartner. Smartphones are also growing faster each quarter as they continue to replace feature phones for many users. No surprise that the iPhone and Android-based phones saw the biggest gains, as the two platforms were the only two in the top five to gain market share year-over-year.

Worldwide, mobile phone vendors sold 314.7 million phones—smart and otherwise—in the first quarter, a 16.9 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009. Nokia, Samsung, and LG continue to grab most of the market with little year-over-year change, while numerous other vendors battle for small parts of the remainder. However, the importance of smartphones can be seen in the overall mobile market. Big market share drops for Sony Ericsson and Motorola allowed BlackBerry maker RIM to move into fourth place globally, making RIM the first smartphone-only vendor to crack the top five.

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etc: The Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP released last month is not compatible with Visual Studio 2010 RTM released yesterday. Microsoft will have an update available within a few weeks.

The Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP released last month is not compatible with Visual Studio 2010 RTM released yesterday. Microsoft will have an update available within a few weeks.

Read More: The Windows Blog, Ars Technica

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