Microsoft have announced the final version of Windows Phone Developer Tools will be made available on 16 September 2010.
Microsoft issued an update for developers on the Windows Phone 7 developer blog for its planned Windows Phone 7 launch timings, stating that it will make the final Windows Phone Developer Tools available on 16 September 2010.
The final release will include some “minor breaking changes” from the beta tools already available, meaning that developers may be faced with a number of bugs that could need subsequent remedy.
The blog states that to date, there have been “north of 300,000 downloads of the Windows Phone Developer Tools.”
The final Developer Tools will also introduce several “highly requested” Silverlight controls, and the panorama, pivot and Bing maps controls will be available to drop into applications.
The blog post also advised developers to have apps ready for submission to the Windows Phone marketplace “in early October, when it opens.”
A limited beta test of the app store submission and certification process will be conducted in the coming weeks.
The big question that Microsoft failed to mention is when will we start to see Windows Phone 7 devices. There’s no point in building an app if there are no phones to launch it on. As the blog post says “it’s now six months since the initial public unveiling of our next-generation mobile phone, Windows Phone 7. Six months is an interesting bit of time; it can fly by, or it can feel like it’s dragging on forever.” Well this one is certainly Draaaaagggggging on, it feels like forever. Come on Microsoft we want to see some phones.
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