Microsoft showed off its Windows Phone 7 Series development platform Monday at the MIX10 conference in Las Vegas. Among other things, the new platform promises to give developers and designers the ability to use established technologies such as Silverlight and the XNA Framework to build new mobile  apps as well as deliver compelling user experiences across a broad set of devices, according to Microsoft Vice President Scott Guthrie.
"As the browser, server , web and devices evolve, a focus on delivering consistently great user experiences has become paramount," Guthrie said. "By extending our familiar platform technologies and tools to phones, Microsoft is delivering the premier application development experience across a variety of devices and form factors."
Code by Layout
During the MIX10 keynote Monday, Microsoft demoed a new design and development work-flow tool that promises to streamline the creation process dramatically. Called Expression Blend 4 Beta, the tool incorporates a visual layout mechanism that in many instances will eliminate the need for writing code.
The software giant also unveiled the release candidate for its next-generation Silverlight 4 platform, which is available for immediate download, together with a comprehensive package of free tools for the Windows Phone 7 Series platform. The package includes Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows 7 Phone, a Windows Phone 7 Series add-in for use with Visual Studio 2010 RC1, and a Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing.
"We gave these tools out to a handful of partners about three weeks ago to see what they could build," Guthrie told MIX10 attendees. "We are amazed as some of the apps that came back."
For example, Vertigo Software CEO Scott Stanfield showed off a new media app that will enable consumers to stream Netflix movies to their Windows 7 phones. "There's a music and video hub that I can launch here and you can see the [movie] title I just watched along with all the other content important to me," Stanfield said.
Another new app designed for Graphic.ly -- a community for purchasing and discussing comic books -- will enable consumers to buy digital comics and view them on a Windows 7 laptop or carry them around in their pockets on a Windows 7 phone. The app includes a hardware-accelerated deep zoom that can deliver high-resolution imagery over low bandwidth. So whenever the user elects to pan in on a comic graphic, deep zoom is able to pull down the right resolution. (continued...)
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