14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone 7, the mobile operating system that Microsoft brought to the market in October last year, has now an unlocking service available from third-party developers, but officially approved by the Redmond-based software giant.
This is not the first unlocking solution that emerges for the Windows Phone platform, but, since it is an approved one, things should go a lot better than they did for the previous one.
The same as the initial unlocking tool, the new service comes from a team of three developers who call themselves ChevronWP7, namely Rafael Rivera, Chris Walsh, and Long Zheng.
In a recent post, they explain that, in collaboration with Microsoft, they came up with ChevronWP7 Labs, which includes the approved Windows Phone unlocking service mentioned above.
“As announced on the Windows Phone Dev Podcast, we will soon be launching an approved Windows Phone unlocking service as part of ChevronWP7 Labs. This will be available to developers across all skill levels and all regions,” they note.
Just as originally planned, the unlocking service is meant to ensure that more developers have access to various features of their Windows Phone device that would not be available for them otherwise.
“As you may remember, one of our goals was to make Windows Phone development more accessible. Plans have recently solidified and we can now reveal a solution we’ve been working on,” the team explains.
For those out of the loop, we should note that Microsoft promised earlier this year that it would support their efforts, and that it would also provide help to the homebrew community. The availability of this service is part of that initiative.
However, unlike the initial unlocking tool, the new service comes with a small fee attached to it.
“The service will require a small fee - currently via PayPal - to offset costs but we assure you it will be more affordable than the App Hub. Those who wish to write and immediately publish apps are recommended to sign up to the App Hub instead,” the team notes.