Last week we met up with Charlie Kindel - @ckindel - one of the Microsoft execs driving the Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7) program.
Our interest in WP7 is to use our Silverlight and .Net skills to build mobile experiences and apps for brands. A lot of the detail on WP7 we'd already heard before at MIX10 but a few interesting points emerged.
Charlie was realistic about where Microsoft starting in this race: "We have Last Mover Advantage." Which is a triumph for positive thinking. And, if you can accept you are late, then you can at least start to consider how that might be turned to an advantage.
He was also upfront about cutting features from the first version if they couldn't confidently be delivered in time: "Shipping is an important feature too."
Interestingly, he confirmed all the highly polished WP7 apps demoed at MIX10 were started just three weeks before the show. Which highlights the agility necessary - and possible - for agencies or software companies developing for WP7.
Microsoft's version of the AppStore - the Windows Phone Marketplace - will split app revenue 30% to the network operator & Microsoft, 70% to the app developer. So pretty much the same as Apple, although Microsoft appeared to be trying to be more transparent and more developer friendly about the process of getting apps into the Windows Phone Marketplace.
With a number of small but nonetheless limiting features left out of the first version, it'll be important that the proposed model of smaller and more frequent software update cycles is adhered to.
The first WP7 phones are due for the Christmas 2010 market, but developers will have to sit tight for another few weeks before finding out when they can get their hands on a shiny new device for development purposes. Until then, it is back to the emulator.
Tags: Microsoft, Windows Phone Series 7