Redmond-based Microsoft has released into the wild the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit so that third-party developers that would like to make applications for the upcoming operating system can start their work. Given the fact that the platform is completed and the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is on its way to come live along with the first WinMo 6.5-powered handsets, it was only a matter of time before the software giant made the DTK available.

According to Microsoft, the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit now available for download “adds documentation, sample code, header and library files, emulator images and tools to Visual Studio that let you build applications for Windows Mobile 6.5.” The DTK can be used on Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 3 operating systems, and comes with support for six languages, namely Chinese Simplified, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.

One of the most important features of the Windows Mobile 6.5 DTK is the fact that it comes with a new set of APIs, one that will allow developers to come up with applications based on the Windows Mobile 6.5 touch gesture framework. What these gesture APIs will offer, Microsoft says, is the possibility for applications to “handle touch gesture input and provide a visually consistent experience with the rest of the device UI.”

The new gesture APIs will only come for the Windows Mobile Classic and Professional SKUs, but developers will have the opportunity to play around with the gesture controls that the software giant has built into the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS. Besides these APIs and the emulator images, the tools kit also comes with samples that make use of the APIs, which, after installing the DTK, can be found into the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit\Samples\ folder. At the same time, Microsoft notes that “the headers and libraries are installed in the Windows Mobile SDK\Pocket PC\ folder.”

The new Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit is available for download on Softpedia as well, via this link.