Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Electronista has posted information on the application environment for Windows Phone 7, and initially, it doesn't look good. Native code will mostly be inaccessible and they say that the restrictions will be even tighter than what the iPhone platform has. It was enough for Pocket Informant developer Alex Kac to say that it probably spells doom for Pocket Informant.

We'll have to see how this turns out when official information from Microsoft is released. It is expected that much more developer info will be made known at the March MIX event.

There is a new third party application store for Windows Mobile called OpnMarket. All of the apps are free. Given the charges developers have for Microsoft own Marketplace, there should be a number developers that choose to place their apps here instead.

"OpnMarket is compatible with most of the Windows Mobile Professional devices with touch-screens, once installed it lets you browse, download and install FREE applications directly on your device. OpnMarket will use you mobile network connection or a WiFi connection to download softwares to your phone. It's simple, instant and FREE !"

"Microsoft launched its new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system this week at the CTIA Wireless conference (see all stories) in San Diego. The OS includes a refreshed Internet Explorer Mobile, the new My Phone media sync and share service, and a brand new app store called, unceremoniously, Windows Marketplace for Mobile."

C|NET has a quick video about the Windows Marketplace for Mobile - it's hard to say without having used it myself yet, but it looks a bit clumsy compared to the App store experience I've become used to on my iPod Touch. Anyone else have opinions on what using the new Windows Mobile Marketplace is like?

The holidays are upon us and while I know a lot of Windows Mobile users out there will be picking up shiny new devices to play with on our respective gift giving holidays, there is always that one Windows Mobile gift that is overlooked – The gift of great Windows Mobile applications! From December 19th-23rd the company that manages our affiliate store, MobiHand, is having a huge 50% off sale on over 40 of the best-selling Windows Mobile applications. During this MobileHeist event you can expect to save anywhere from $10-$20USD on such applications such as Elecont Weather, Sprite Backup 6, Agenda One, Pocket Streamer and more!To pick up any of these best-selling applications you can just point your browser to our affiliate store(s) by using one of the links below!

• Smartphone Thoughts Affiliate Store
• Pocket PC Thoughts Affiliate Store

"Wouldn't it be super cool if the Silverlight apps you built for the desktop could run on Millions of Mobile Devices? If you have been building Silverlight applications and are wondering how to extend them to mobile devices, then this webcast is the one to watch. In this webcast you will not only learn how to extend your existing Silverlight 2 applications to work on Windows Mobile, but also learn how to build rich mobile Silverlight apps that play media, handle simple gestures, have cool animations, and enable web services."

Public availability of Silverlight for Mobile isn't expected until early next year, but if you want a head-start on extending your existing Silverlight apps to mobile devices, then this PDC session is worth a look. And, if you want more, Amit Chopra offers an overview of each of the demos.