- Codemasons’ Guild – Jumpstart Live Meeting #1 Q&A
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Last Friday James McCutcheon, Jeff Alexander & I (DonK) hosted the first in the Codemasons’ Guild Jumpstart series. If you want to review the LiveMeeting or look at it for the first time – keep an eye out on www.codemasons.com.au it will be posted there in the next few days.
We had some fantastic questions asked through, and at the end of, the Live Meeting – and here’s the listing of a whole host of them;
Q: Is there an upgrade available for existing 6.1 phones? A: Updates to existing devices in market will be announced by our OEM Partners. At this point HTC have publicly stated that the HTC Diamond 2, HTC Touch Pro 2 and HTC Snap will be updateable to Windows Mobile 6.5.
Q: can you run My Phone side-by-side with an Exchange server configuration?
A: Yes, where a Windows Mobile (6 or greater) phone is configured for Exchange ActiveSync then that handles synchronisation of your Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Email. My Phone will then Sync/Backup other elements – SMS, Photos, Music, Video, Documents.
Q: Will Telco's have the ability to bar access to Marketplace?
A: No
Q: How much is the overall fees for the app submission ?
A: The sign-up fee at present is USD$99 for 5 applications – see developer.windowsmobile.com/maretplace.aspx for more information/details.
Q: When can we access the Dev. Portal?
A: Soon :)
Q: Is this a once off fees ?
A: 99 USD charge fee for 5 app signings
Q: If the application is available for free? what will Microsoft charge developer?
A: It will be charged as one of your signings
Q: At what points do i need to get my app signed? Obviously for initial registration, but what about subsequent updates? A: Yes all updates need to be signed but not charged as one of your signings
Q: Is there any overlap or merging to be expected between My Phone and Live Mesh for mobile devices?
A: We don’t have any announcements to make about that today. My Phone is being delivered as a backup service for your life on your phone, it is available in beta today for Windows Mobile 6 and higher devices/
Q : Will a testing tool be available to developers to allow them to test their own app before submission? A: Not at this time, it will be a manual process
Q: What are the requirements for registering for Marketplace - i.e. do you need to have a registered company - ABN, ACN?
A: No you do not need to have a registered company to sign-up for Marketplace.
Q: Will there be a rating/ranking system for apps on MarketPlace. If so, will the rating/ranking algorithm be transparent?
A: There will be a user ranking system
Q: Does the Marketplace support multi-developers/one-application or multi-developers/multi-applications scenarios?
A: The Developer Account on Marketplace will enable you to assign multiple team members/developers to a single account (allowing for one-app/multi-developer) or ISV/Companies to sign-up/
Comment: Thanks guys; very useful meeting
Comment: Cheers and May the Force be with you always.
DonK
- Sony Ericsson X1 – offer with Vodafone Australia
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Vodafone Australia have the Sony Ericsson X1 in their latest Business catalogue. It’s on the $69 “Single Business Plan” +$5 per month = $74 per month.
What do you get on this plan?
- 250mins calls
- 300 V2V minutes
- 200 texts & PXTs
- 1Gig of Data – that’s awesome
Head to the Vodafone site for more information :
http://store.vodafone.com.au/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-69-cap-contract-24-months-offer.aspx
DonK
- Codemasons’ Guild Jumpstart Series – Live Meeting 1 today
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Don’t forget the first in our series of Live Meetings on 6.5, Marketplace & App Dev for WinMo is happening today – 1pm.
Today’s Live Meeting will provide what’s new in 6.5 and outline what Marketplace is.
If you haven’t registered yet, head to www.codemasons.com.au to register.
Looking forward to talking to you all later on today.
DonK
- Adobe plan to release Flash Player 10 for smartphones in Oct – Windows Mobile included.
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Arne Hess at theunwired.net has a summary of the announcement by Adobe that they plan to release Flash Player 10 for smartphones in October – read it at the::unwired.
The platforms include Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android & webOS … great to see Windows Mobile there, as that will add to the native support of Flash Lite 3.1 in Windows Mobile 6.5.
DonK
- Windows Mobile 6.5 developer training – Jumpstart series
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Next Friday at 1pm is the first of a series of 3 Live Meetings to help Australian developers get started developing for Windows Mobile 6.5 – and to get those apps in Marketplace (Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Open for Developer registration) to distribute/sell to the millions of Windows Mobile users globally.
These Live Meetings will run through July, all on a Friday starting at 1pm. So grab some lunch, your favourite beverage, and get ready to learn. The first starts Friday week, July 3 – click to register now.
July 3rd 1pm - Introduction to Windows Mobile 6.5 and Marketplace: the opportunity and the platform
This webcast introduces the new and upcoming features of Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Marketplace. It also outlines the incredible business opportunity for developers to reach millions of users globally via Windows Marketplace – and the processes required to do so.
Register now for Live Meeting session 1
July 17 1pm - Getting started developing for Windows Mobile 6.5: developer tools, technologies, debugging and testing
Learn how to get started developing for Windows Mobile 6.5, what can be done with the new technologies and how to use your existing skills to start coding apps for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones via Windows Marketplace.
July 30 1pm - Widgets: the new internet application
Get insight into the Widgets platform for Windows Mobile 6.5 and discover how to develop powerful Widgets that leverage today’s web experience in a new way.
DonK
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit now available
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The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit has just been released for download from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=20686a1d-97a8-4f80-bc6a-ae010e085a6e
The tool kit adds documentation, sample code, header and library files emulator images and tools to Visual Studio, so you can start building applications for Windows Mobile 6.5 and the new UI. You’ll need the Windows Mobile 6 SDK to leverage the Gestures API & samples.
DonK
- MSDN Ramp Up series – moving from the desktop to mobile
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The Windows Mobile dev team have put together a series of tutorials called Ramp Up. The series is aimed to help if you currently develop using Visual Studio and want to move your skills to the Mobile platform, taking advantage of Marketplace to sell mobile apps. The series is made up of 7 topics covering setting up VS with the SDK, device emulators, building-deploying-debugging apps, and mobile web development.
You can sign here at MSDN.
DonK
- My Phone – public beta now open
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In an earlier post (Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Open for Developer registration) I touched on two services that were announced in February in conjunction with Windows Mobile 6.5. One being Windows Marketplace for Mobile and the second My Phone.
My Phone is a cloud based service, with a client supporting Windows Mobile 6 and above, this syncs information between your Windows Mobile phone and the cloud based service.
On Monday the My Phone team upgraded the Microsoft My Phone web site to support 19 additional languages and made other improvements based on existing beta user feedback.
Finally, with this release My Phone was opened to all users. Promotional codes are no longer needed to signup – so now you, your friends, family and colleagues with Windows Mobile phones can use My Phone.
Head to http://myphone.microsoft.com to register today.
DonK
- New msdn forum for Marketplace
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If you have registered as a developer for Windows Marketplace for Mobile then you should check out the new forum @ msdn:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mktplace/
The Marketplace for Mobile team posted this “Welcome” announcement:
“Welcome to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile developer forum. This forum is the resource for developers’ Marketplace application submission and certification questions.
The Marketplace delivers an end-to-end solution for end-users to discover, purchase, and download Windows Mobile 6.5 applications. This includes an end-user experience on the device, a PC website, as well as a self-service portal for developers to submit their applications for listing in the Marketplace.”
DonK
- Motosurf A3100 – now available: new TesltraOne UI
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The Motorola Motosurf A3110 is now available via Telstra stores, on a $60 plan (over 24months).
The Motosurf comes with Telstra’s new TelstraOne UI, developed by PointUI out of Melbourne. This interface provides a very strong finger navigation UI, having used some of the beta releases I was really impressed. You get a consolidated Inbox, excellent call register application and if you like customising a bit then the PointUI Developer community has a stack of neat Applet that you can add-in (where the world map is in the picture above). You can then simply flick left or right to get to your chosen applet.
The review from Smarthouse will give you some further insight on the A3100.
DonK
- Windows Mobile Facebook app – now available
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New from Windows Mobile: a Facebook application for your phone – Windows Mobile 6 and above. Here are some of the call out’s of what you can do from the Facebook client on Windows Mobile;
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Send messages to any of the people in your Friends list.
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Take pictures and videos on your phone, then upload them right to Facebook.
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Send messages or call people in your Friends list.
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Manage your profile and post anytime, anywhere
Here are some screen shots from the Facebook on a Windows Mobile Std (non-touch) device;
You can download the application
DonK
- Link to Marketplace registration fixed
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Thanks to Deeps who picked-up my typing mistakes on the Marketplace Developer Rego’s now open post from Tuesday.
In step 1 - I added an “s” to the end of developer – the link to register is http://developer.windowsmobile.com/marketplace.aspx
In Step 2 – I had msnd instead of msdn – the developer tools link is http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsmobile
So there are the correct links so you can register and get developing some great apps for Windows Mobile 6.5
DonK
- Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Open for Developer registration
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Back at Mobile World Congress in February, Steve Ballmer announced Windows Mobile 6.5 and a set of complementary Services – MyPhone and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
The Marketplace is now open for Developer registration – this enables you to register with the Marketplace as a developer, and start developing applications to be distributed via Marketplace to Windows Mobile users worldwide.
So the steps you need to take are:
1. Register at http://developer.windowsmobile.com/marketplace.aspx. (you’ll need USD$99 and a LiveID)
2. Get the information & tools to develop for Windows Mobile from http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsmobile
3. Get developing your innovative applications
DonK
- Application Dev on Windows Mobile – new Tech Articles available
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The Windows Mobile product team have published a new set of technical articles covering application development for Windows Mobile. These cover starting development, choosing and API, and compelling UI development.
To access this information head across to http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2009/04/28/new-technical-articles-on-windows-mobile-application-development-have-been-published-on-msdn.aspx
DonK
- Daylight Savings – specific devices guidance
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In our posting last week Daylight Savings - Readying you WM phone we planned to provide an update once we’d tested some of the WM6.1 devices in market. We’ve run through a bunch of WM6.1 phones, and our guidance still remains the same – all Windows Mobile 5.0, 6 and 6.1 phones need to have the March 2008 patch applied (see Day Light Savings – install the March 2008 DLS patch for instructions).
If you have an HTC Touch Diamond or an HTC TouchHD, you will need to perform these steps to have your calendar entries fall into sync with the time zone.
1. Disable Automatic change time zone and clock
- Tap on “Start”
- Tap on “Settings”
- Tap on the “Phone” icon
- Tap on the “Time Zones” tab at the bottom of the screen
- Uncheck “Automatically change time zone and clock “
- Tap on “OK”
- Press the “End Key” to return to the Home Screen
2. Manually Adjust and Re-Adjust Time Zone
- Tap on “Start”
- Tap on “Settings”
- Tap on the “System” tab
- Tap on the “Clocks & Alarms” icon
- Set the Time Zone to an alternate “Time Zone” (for example set it to GMT +12 New Zealand )
- Tap on “OK”
- Tap on “Yes” to Save changes to the Clock and settings
- Tap on the “Clocks & Alarms” icon
- Set the Time Zone to the correct “Time Zone” (this must be the actual Time Zone you reside in)
- Tap on “OK”
- Tap on “Yes” to Save changes to the Clock and settings
- Press the “End Key” to return to the Home Screen
DonK
