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October 4, 2010
Request Early Access to Submit your Windows Phone 7 App
On October 11th you and other developers will see a brand new Marketplace developer portal experience that makes it easier to distribute and manage your apps and games. The new portal streamlines application submission and certification; brings together all the resources you need to develop great apps and games for Windows Phone 7; and lets you manage apps you may have created for earlier versions of Windows Phone. The new portal will also be refreshed more frequently to provide you with new resources and updates on a regular basis.
Since this is an all-new portal experience we will initially enable early access to a couple thousand developers to submit Windows Phone 7 apps starting on October 11. If your Windows Phone 7 app or game is ready and you’d like to be among the first to go through certification, please tell us by sending an email to myxapnow@Microsoft.com by Twelve Noon, PDT, October 6th, 2010.
All requests will be evaluated on a first come, first serve basis. From these requests an initial group of developers will be provided access and guidance on submitting their apps through the new certification process. After the first wave of app submissions we will gradually ramp-up access to additional developers on a weekly basis.
Here are a few important details.
- Your request for early access must come from the email address that received this newsletter; we will only accept requests from registered Marketplace developers
- Your request must include the title of your app and a description of approximately 75 words
- Requests that do not meet the October 6th deadline will not make the first wave of early access slots but will be evaluated for later waves in the order in which they were received
- Optionally, please consider providing a screenshot or link to a video or blog description of your app to assist us in prioritizing the early access program
Be sure to check out Todd Brix’s post to the Windows Phone Developer Blog later this morning, but important dates to remember are:
- Today: As a registered Marketplace developer, you are now invited to request early certification access by emailing myxapnow@microsoft.com by Noon, October 6, PDT.
- Oct 11: The first wave of developers accepted for early certification access will receive instructions on how to submit their xap to the new Marketplace portal.
- Oct 12-November: Microsoft will expand access to the early app submission process every week until the self-serve submission process is broadly enabled.
With more than half a million downloads of the Windows Phone Developer tools, we know we’ll see amazing games and apps for customers this holiday season. We look forward to seeing yours early!
Final Windows Phone Developer Tools Available Now
You may already know, but the final developer tools for Windows® Phone 7 have been available here since late August. You will need to use these final tools, not the beta tool set, when building an app to submit to Marketplace. Make sure you take the following steps to get your games and apps prepped for launch:
- Download the final Windows Phone Developer Tools from the portal today
- Compile your app or game using the final tools
- Have your XAP ready for submission to the Marketplace when it opens
Register for Tech-Ed Europe 2010
Tech-Ed Europe returns to Berlin November 8-12 2010, with more than 25 Windows Phone related sessions and labs. These range from introductions to the Windows Phone 7 and Marketplace teams to deep-dives on Silverlight and XNA development for Windows Phone 7. Check out all the Windows Phone sessions by clicking here and selecting the Windows Phone track from the search list. The registration price for Tech-Ed also includes a one-year subscription to TechNet which includes access to the complete stack of full-version Microsoft infrastructure and business solution software.
Windows Phone 7 at PDC 2010, October 28 and 29
Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference, PDC 2010, will include sessions on building and selling apps for Windows Phone 7. PDC 2010 has already sold out but you can join the event live on October 28 and 29 at the PDC site. You can also join the PDC email list to get a preview of what’s planned for PDC, as well as stay abreast of local PDC events.
Visual Basic Comes to Windows Phone 7
You can now download the Visual Basic CTP for Windows Phone Developer Tools. Provided in this download are all the templates, designer support, emulator (and phone!) support and IntelliSense for Visual Basic.
A few important caveats:
- CTP stands for Community Technology Preview, which means we want to give you early access, and are hoping to solicit feedback, but this is not a final implementation.
- There is no Go-Live license, which means you shouldn’t try to release apps built with this version of the technology.
- You need to be a Visual Studio 2010 Professional (or higher) customer. So if you only have the Express edition of the Windows Phone Developer Tools, you cannot use this version of the CTP. I hear Visual Studio 2010 have a trial download if you are really itchy.
- You cannot build XNA games. Silverlight apps only.
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