Microsoft has announced the tools that will be used by developers to design and develop next generation applications for Windows Phone 7 Series today at MIX10. The development tools are exactly what was expected thanks to the leaked Windows Phone 7 Series development documents.
The SDK will include the following:
•Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
•Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC
•XNA Game Studio 4.0
•Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing
•Expression Blend for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview (available as a separate download)
Using XNA framework and Silverlight, developers will be able to take leverage of the following features in Windows Phone 7 Series:
•Accelerometer, an intuitive control that responds to motion
•A Microsoft Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference to acquire location information
•Microsoft Notification Service for pushing information to the phone, regardless of whether or not an application is running
•Hardware-accelerated video with digital rights management (DRM)
•Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming for the industry’s highest quality content viewing experience
•Multitouch
•Camera and microphone support
Microsoft Notification Service seems to be like Push Notifications available on the iPhone, while Microsoft Location Service will be like Google’s location services. Expect it to be available beyond just the mobile platform for developers. Expect the SDK to be available for download really soon.
Update: Download the SDK from here.
