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Is Microsoft about to back down from locking Windows Mobile 7 users into its Marketplace app store?

Mark

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Mark Bridge writes:

In this week’s podcast we talked about the ChevronWP7 ‘unlocking’ solution that allowed the installation of Windows Phone 7 applications without the need to use Microsoft’s Marketplace application store. Unlike previous Windows Mobile handsets, new WP7 devices can only add applications that are offered via the Microsoft Marketplace.

James expressed concerns that Microsoft’s decision risked alienating many people in the development community. (You can listen to the podcast here; the conversation about ChevronWP7 starts after around 12½ minutes).

The three developers behind Chevron WP7 have now removed the tool from their website after a discussion with Brandon Watson, Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone 7. According to a statement on the ChevronWP7 website, “Brandon Watson has agreed to engage in further discussions with us about officially facilitating homebrew development on WP7. To fast-track discussions, we are discontinuing the unlocking tool effective immediately.”

In the podcast, we ended our discussion about Windows Phone 7 with Iain jokingly suggesting that Microsoft could open up this aspect of its OS as soon as next week… and James responding with a Q2 2011 prediction. However, given the speed of Brandon Watson’s intervention, perhaps Iain’s guess could be closer after all!

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