Now that I’ve caught your attention with the title of this post, I want to introduce you to a really great promotion we are holding at Microsoft Canada for you as a mobile app developer (by the way, when I write “app”, I actually mean “app or game”).
One of the biggest comments that I get when talking to people interested in building an app for Windows Phone is that they don’t have a device. Then they ask me where they can get a Windows Phone. The easiest answer is to go to your local wireless carrier and purchase a Windows Phone (likely with a data plan) from them. That isn’t always optimal (hey, I get it – if you’re locked into a plan it’s a tough sell to get another one with your carrier of choice). The second choice is to purchase a Windows Phone from a distributor like zones.com, where you can purchase a device that is not attached to a data plan, but those phones are typically not subsidized by the distributor or the device manufacturer.
Now, for those of you that publish 2 or more new, quality apps for Windows Phone, we will actually give you a Windows Phone to keep through the Mango App Challenge. Feel free to re-read that. Your eyes are not deceiving you. There are terms and conditions, of course, but the gist of the offer is that if you create 2 new apps (i.e.: they don’t already exist in the Marketplace) that meet a certain quality bar and you publish them under a Canadian Marketplace account before December 15th, we’ll be delivering you a shiny new Windows Phone with the Windows Phone 7.5 OS (formerly codenamed “Mango”) already installed on it. It’s that simple. We’re so confident in your ability to bring some amazing apps to the Marketplace that we have 300 devices total for this offer to give out to developers.
So, are you interested? I thought you might be. For those of you that know Windows Phone development already, chances are you’ve already fired up Visual Studio 2010 and have great ideas ready to be converted into code. For those of you that have not built apps for Windows Phone, we have you covered as well. There are tonnes of resources available to you to learn how to build apps for Windows Phone and the tooling is freely downloadable. The only thing you need to to is pay the CAD $99 fee to register as a developer for Windows Phone (this registration is required to publish apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace). Below are some resources to get you started (and they are great for new and seasoned developers alike!).
How to Get Started Building Apps for Windows Phone and Enter the Mango App Challenge
Good luck and happy coding!
By now, you may have seen that TechDays 2011 is now open for registration. TechDays is Microsoft Canada’s premier, in-person training event that is reaching 3 cities (Toronto – October 25-26, 2011, Vancouver – November 15-16, 2011 and Montreal – November 29-30, 2011) with 2 full days of training in 8 different tracks (in alphabetical order: Cloud Computing and Online Services; Communication and Collaboration; Developer Tools, Frameworks and Languages; Development Practices and Architecture; Security, Identity and Management; SQL Server and Data Platform; Virtualization; Windows Client and Windows Phone).
As Track Owner of the Windows Client and Windows Phone track at TechDays 2011, I am honoured and excited to introduce the many sessions that you will see talking about Windows Phone and Windows Client. It’s a jam-packed track that will appeal to both developers and IT Pro’s alike, with lots of content that will both enable to use these technologies today and to inspire you to build the next great thing tomorrow.
To give you some background as to why the sessions you see below are found in the Windows Client and Windows Phone track, I want to explain the rationale behind the decision process. First, I wanted to provide Client and Phone content that would be beneficial to everyone using or thinking of using our platform technologies, regardless of whether your job entailed development, management or operations in IT. Second, I wanted to give sessions that attendees would find both exciting and relevant to their day-to-day jobs. Finally, I wanted these sessions to inspire you. IT is only a tool, a means to an end. It’s your creativity and passion that make software wildly successful. It is my hope that through these sessions you will see and hear something that will kindle an amazing idea that will change the world!
Below is a video that introduces the Windows Client and Windows Phone track:
So on with the sessions in the Windows Client and Windows Phone Track:
WIN301: Windows Phone 7.5: An Overview and Architecture Deep Dive
WIN302: Adding the Awesomesauce Flavour with Internet Explorer 9 Pinned Sites
By now, you've heard about pinned sites in Internet Explorer 9. And, you've probably even used them yourself. But, did you know that this feature can help increase site visits and engagements? In this session, you'll hear stories of Pinned Site implementations by some of the most popular websites on the web today. You'll also discover how to support pinned sites with a few lines of markup. Finally, you'll learn best practices that will help you deliver an awesome experience to your visitors.
WIN303: Windows Intune: PC Management with Cloud Services and Windows 7
WIN304: Building Windows Phone 7 Applications with the Windows Azure Platform
No doubt you’ve heard a lot about HTML5 as a web developer. Now it’s time to look at what that means. In this session we’ll take a look at the construction of an HTML5 line-of-business application. It will show you what you need to consider targeting the desktop, phone and tableting web experiences while taking advantage of the tools that HTML5 delivers to you.
If you are still spending money on your desktop deployment solutions, be prepared to be impressed! The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 (MDT 2012) can do it all. And it’s free. In this session Rhonda will show you how to set up a MDT server, create a complete image including Office 2010 and deploy that image using the new Deployment Wizard. But wait that’s not all MDT 2012 can also migrate your XP machines to Windows 7 while maintaining users data and settings as well. See it all in this demo driven session.
If you are interested in attending, don’t delay in registering as the conference is filling up with registrations right now. We are also providing early bird pricing for the conference (CAD $399.99 instead of the regular fee of $799.99, which is a 50% discount). For Toronto, this early bird pricing ends on October 4, 2011 (Vancouver early bird pricing ends October 25, 2011 and Montreal early bird pricing ends November 8, 2011), so time is running short on getting a great discount on premier training and networking!