Chris Velasco — mobile enthusiast and writer who studied English and marketing at Rutgers University. Once upon a time he was a News intern for MobileCrunch, and between them, he worked in wireless sales at best buy. After graduation, he returned to the new TechCrunch for mobile as a full-time writer. He counts the advertising works, musical theater ... ? Read More
In the light of the decision to axe HP WebOS products, the question for many developer "what?" While I'm sure a few diehards WebOS will continue to work on the platform (and we hope to create some great new applications for all Bargain Bin dvuhknopocnyh there), Microsoft opened its arms to these disadvantaged developers.
Brandon Watson, Senior Director of Microsoft's Windows phone 7 development, tweeted proposal published WebOS developers last Friday, Microsoft will give them what they need to be successful, from free phones to design tools and training.
A bold move, Watson and one that seems to have already borne fruit: it received over 500 emails from interested devs in under 24 hours, and Watson was understandable "story" in the response. This is not the first time, Watson came out on a limb, to inspire the developer crowd: in the past, he shared his personal mobile phone number on Twitter field questions about the development process.
A warm welcome to the party, former WebOS devs can deal with the transition. Many of the WebOS apps were written in HTML and JavaScript, while getting the most mileage out of Windows 7 phone requires familiarity with c # and the .NET framework. Microsoft's commitment to providing resources for new WinPho devs might be just what they have to get used to the water.
With the generous offer of the like that Microsoft seems to understand that building strong developer relations is crucial to the success of their mobile platform. The number of applications to the Windows Marketplace website is rapidly approaching 30 000, and welcoming the position of Brandon at the interaction between the developers can help Redmond strengthen their number even more. Microsoft Mobile OS rivals app charges of hundreds of thousands, and though there are certainly something to say about quality over quantity, great app store numbers are quickly (if myopic) way of measuring the State of the platform.
Picking up traction among former WebOS devs are just the tip of the iceberg for mobile dev efforts at Microsoft. Their next big focus? Watson said to work with students to be "huge" for Microsoft this year.
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