Microsoft will release final Windows Phone 7 tools

WHILE THE RUMOUR MILL has come up with a yarn claiming that Windows Phone 7 will be released in October, Microsoft said its developer tools will be out in a couple of weeks.

The Vole announced that the final version of the Windows Phone 7 developer tools will be released on 16 September. On the Windows Phone 7 blog, the Vole suggests that you register at the marketplace today, finish your application or game using the Beta tools, download the final Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools when they are released on 16 September, recompile your app or game using the final tools and then have it ready for submission to the marketplace when that opens.

It is fairly clear that Microsoft is flat out on this. It seems that after dropping the ball on Windows Mobile it has got a bit of focus at last.

Microsoft has warned that the final tools will likely have some minor breaking changes from the Beta tools, so developers might have to fix some bugs.

The final tools will also include Silverlight controls. This will make it easier for developers to deliver high quality Windows Phone 7 experiences, the Vole breathlessly claims.

Also in the final release, the panorama, pivot and Bing maps controls will all be available to drop into applications.

The Vole also claims to be working hard to make its app store easy to use and transparent. It has issued an updated set of Windows Phone Marketplace policies along with a beta of the entire apps submission process.

So far more than 300,000 copies of the developer tools have been downloaded, which is not bad for a phone that has not hit the shops yet. µ