14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft continues to be handing out free Windows 7 Phone devices to developers building applications that target the next generation mobile platform. The Redmond company announced a new initiative designed to fuel the interest of developers building mobile applications back in June 2010. At that time, the software giant revealed that devs would be getting their hands on pre-release versions of Windows Phone 7 smartphones in July, in order to start developing apps.
However, free Windows Phone 7 devices are still available to developers. One illustrative example in this regard is offered by Omar Aviles. According to Aviles, devs in Mexico only need to request their Windows Phone 7 device and they will be offered one. “If you are developing an application for Windows Phone 7 or you have a Silverlight application you want to try or migrate to Windows Phone 7, send an email to Omar Aviles requesting a Windows Phone 7 that includes the following information: Full Name; Company name (if you're independent you do not need this information); Full address where you want to receive the device; Description of the application you want to develop; Phone number where we can locate you and validate the application and delivery. Only shipments and applications from companies/freelancers from Mexico will be processed,” Aviles stated.
Back in mid-July 2010, Microsoft’s Brandon Watson revealed that he was accepting device requests from developers. At that time Watson underlined that the Redmond company had yet to iron out all the details, but that the software giant was looking to start offering devices in August 2010. Watson even enumerated some of the criteria that the Redmond company was taking into account.
“First, we are going to prioritize for apps being built by large and small teams, which represent some pretty big ideas, specifically targeting the launch timeframe. At Mix10 we showed a pretty long list of partners, and we have continued to add to that over the last few months. Second, as some of you may have heard, we are getting phones to our existing published Windows Phone Marketplace ISVs. There’s several thousand apps and companies who are part of the 6.x marketplace, and we want to help jump start their transition to Windows Phone 7. Finally, we are prioritizing for those committed developers who are building apps for Windows Phone 7 and sharing their knowledge about Silverlight, XNA and Windows Phone 7,” he said.
Of course developers worldwide, that haven’t been contacted by Microsoft Evangelists can shoot Watson an email with their app plans for Windows Phone 7, and maybe it’s still not too late for them to get a Windows Phone 7 pre-release device.
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