Verizon apps start showing up in Windows Phone 7′s Marketplace, you figure out the rest
It's an open secret (okay, it's not really a secret at all) that Verizon plans to carry Windows Phone 7 handsets before too long, and in preparation for that grand event, it seems Big Red is populating the platform's Marketplace with a few wares. Verizon versions of Slacker Radio and Netflix are now in there alongside a carrier app -- My Verizon Mobile -- that lets you pull the usual stunts with your account like changing features and paying your bill.
Categories: htc, Mobile Phone Tags: handsets, launch, microsoft, phone, radio, verizon, verizon-mobile, verizon-wireless, windows, windows-phone, wp7
Windows Phone 7′s Marketplace grows faster than Android did at launch, doesn’t mean much
An analyst note released by research firm IDC yesterday points out that in the nearly two months since Windows Phone 7's retail release, the Windows Marketplace has swelled to 4,000 applications -- a number that the Android Market took five months to reach. That's impressive, no doubt, and the analyst behind the numbers notes that he "would not be surprised if Microsoft had the third largest app portfolio in the industry by the middle of next year." Now granted, hitting number three would take very little effort on Microsoft's part -- they'd just have to beat webOS, BlackBerry OS, and Symbian, none of which have sparked iOS- or Android-like levels of developer interest. So beyond that, what does the growth mean?
Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: apps, doubt, engadget, launch, microsoft, numbers, windows, windowsmarketplace, windowsphone7, wp7
Windows Phone 7 devices are being discounted by third parties, but it’s business as usual
We're seeing reports pop up that discounting -- some of it heavy -- off the full retail prices of Windows Phone 7 handsets by third-party retailers this early in the game could be a sign of trouble for Microsoft, but realistically, you can't use that yardstick for guesstimating how well a phone (or a platform, in this case) is doing. Guys like Amazon, Wirefly, Simplexity (which runs a number of mobile stores, including Walmart), and Best Buy Mobile regularly undercut carriers' first-party pricing on handsets immediately following release -- or shortly thereafter -- because it's effectively a win-win: they're given multi-hundred-dollar commissions for each new contract they bring to the network, giving them the wiggle room to apply some of that cash to the sticker price
Categories: Android, htc, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: bestbuy, commissions, entry, game, handsets, revenue, wiggle, windows, windows phone 7, wp7
ASUS E600 WP7 smartphone stops by the FCC, possibly destined for AT&T
ASUS was definitely one of the early players to get all excited about Windows Phone 7 , yet as the OS release came and went all we were left with was a couple of blurrycam shots and a little video of a four-inch slab from the company.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: actually-never, att, e600, entry, fcc, four-inch, four-inch-slab, retail-release, slab, windows-phone, windowsphone7, wp7
ChevronWP7 team releases custom ringtone manager for ‘unlocked’ Windows Phone 7 devices
While we patiently wait for the now-offline ChevronWP7 team to partner up with Microsoft and make homebrew awesomeness happen on the real, those that have already opened their Windows Phone 7 devices to sideloading will want to take a look at the team's second tool released earlier this week. The custom ringtone manager they've crafted works in a most unusual way: you select five ringtones you want installed, then let the tool craft a custom XAP (which represent WP7's application package files) which you then sideload -- assuming you've already used the original ChevronWP7 tool to allow such shenanigans.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: application, chevronwp7, custom-ringtone, homebrew, package, package-files, unusual, windows, windowsphone7, wp7
Microsoft reiterates copy and paste is Windows Phone 7′s first update, ‘additional updates delivered in the future’
Chris Walsh -- one of the forces behind the ChevronWP7 app sideload hack for Windows Phone 7 -- went on record earlier this week saying that the first platform update coming early next year would be "massive" with so many improvements and new features that "they could have called it Windows Phone 8." That's a pretty bold statement, and it's been making the rounds so fiercely today that Microsoft felt the need to lay down the law with an official statement -- albeit not a very strongly-worded one: "Microsoft is committed to delivering regular updates to the Windows Phone experience. Our first update will make copy & paste available in early 2011
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: been-delivering, copy-and-paste, microsoft, phone, result, sideload, windows, windowsphone7, wp7
Windows Phone 7 developers not getting paid for Marketplace sales until February 2011
Not a good time to be a starving dev, we'd say, because Microsoft is saying in its Windows Phone 7 developer community forums that payouts for Marketplace apps won't start for another couple months.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: apps, developers, left-uncrossed, left-undotted, microsoft, money, windows, windows-phone, windowsmarketplace, wp7
Venue Pro makes brief appearance on Dell’s website: $150 on-contract, December 14th launch?
There's no sign left of it now, but it looks like none other than the Venue Pro made a brief appearance on Dell's website earlier today, complete with a few key details about the device. Namely, that it will apparently run $150 on a two-year contract or $500 off-contract (which is a bit different than the asking price was at Microsoft stores), and that it will start shipping on December 14th. Of course, it's entirely possible that Dell pulled the page in order to make some changes to those details -- and considering the Venue Pro launch so far , that might even be likely
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: dell, device, engadget, makes-brief, microsoft, price, pulled-the-page, venue pro, venuepro, windowsphone7, wp7
Microsoft: we figured people would hack Windows Phone 7, would suggest that they don’t
Hot on the heels of the release of a utility for bypassing the Windows Marketplace and sideloading your own apps, Microsoft has released a brief statement on the state of the Windows Phone 7 hacking community... and we wouldn't exactly say they're too worked up about it: "We anticipated that people would attempt to unlock the phones and explore the underlying operating system
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: breaking-hacks, brief-statement, cat, chevronwp7, developers, heels, jailbreak, Warranty, windows phone 7, windows-phone, wp7
Dell: bigger Venue Pro launch coming, keep hands off microSD
Didn't get a Venue Pro when Microsoft threw a few on its store shelves ? Why, that'd be enough to make us mad, too -- Ballmer mad , in fact. Fear not, though: as Dell tells it, the company has production ramped up for a "timely" launch on T-Mobile's network
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: dell, eject-mechanism, entry, holiday, micro sd, microsd, phone, piece, Season, venue, venue pro, windows phone 7, windows-phone, wp7