During last months I come across many developers that share zero confidence in the WP7 platform. Many of them still share the dissapointment from windows mobile. Many of them still believe that the wireless operators will keep blocking microsoft. Many of them simply don’t believe that the WP7 platform can take off.
In a dynamic world as ours things change, and they change fast. Thinking out of the box is a must unless you don’t care staying behind.
The growing influence google and apple enjoy during the last years is one of the main catalizators that will eventually cause mobile operators to embrace more players. More dominant players will eventually assist the mobile operators coping with google and apple growing power. The recently announced cooperation between Nokia and Microsoft will set the path for WP7 into those markets the mobile operators dominate.
The differences between the different hardware on which the various mobile platforms run are insignificant. The high quality screens, long life batteries and lightweight structure eventually find their way to all platforms. The factors that drive users to buy a specific phone model are usually different comparing with those developers usually think of. The visual appearance is in many cases a dominant factor. Microsoft WP7 tiles based user interface looks good. It looks good and beyond. Its unique look and feel differentiates it from all other mobile platforms. It drives user attention. It sets a clear alternative for iphones and androids that share a similar look & feel. Users always look for differentiation.
The other well known factor in driving the success of a mobile platform is the applications store. The WP7 platform provides developers with the well known visual studio IDE. Developers can easily learn how to develop application for the WP7 platform. The Silverlight based development process surely has its contribution to this simplicity. Based on my experience running a WP7 course last summer, I can testify that comparing with similar training I deliver for the android platform, acquiring the same development skills for the android platoform takes three times more training (at the minimum) than it takes to acquire for WP7. I have no doubt that it is just a matter of time till we get to see an amazing appstore with thousands of applications developed for WP7.
