I had the chance to go to the Microsoft Campus a few hours ago to play a bit with Windows Phone 7 and gather some new info about the much anticipated OS. The session started with a presentation by the Tequila Rapido Team who discussed the Metro UI and the design process of building WP7 applications with SketchFlow. They’ve also unveiled a new Windows Phone 7 application dedicated to the french horse channel Equidia (sorry for the picture quality below). I highly suggest that you take a look at their Renault Rent application and SketchFlow video.
Microsoft France is also announcing a Windows Phone 7 developer competition today which will give every developer the opportunity to submit their application to a jury composed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other big name CEOs and founders:
- Pierre Olivier Carles, CEO de Kipost et co-fondateur de Labotec, business angel.
- Jacques Antoine Granjon, Fondateur de Vente-privée.com
- Ouriel Ohayon,Co- Fondateur d’AppsFire et Co-fondateur du fonds Isai
- Marc Simoncini, Fondateur et Président de Meetic et du fonds Jaïna
- Bruno Vanryb, Fondateur et Président d’Avanquest Software
The jury will announce the winner on October 7th when Steve Ballmer will be in France (I’ll now let you guess Windows Phone 7′s launch day 
…Remember that Ballmer launched WM6.5 here in Paris last year…so it’s safe to assume that WP7′s launch will take place on the 7th)
The Samsung Taylor prototype was silky smooth and the LG Panther also felt good in the hand (and it definitely looks like has an LCD screen not AMOLED, not 100% yet thought). Developer devices will start to be available shortly (this week I guess) but Microsoft doesn’t have a whole lot of handsets available right now and a biggest batch/shipment is expected at the end of August. Developers who really wish to test their applications on a real device will be able to head over to the Campus every Friday and load their app on to a prototype there (nice move IMO). So I suggest you talk to your local DPE Team and see if they are offering the same thing. The Beta of the Windows Phone 7 SDK is also scheduled to launch this week (probably announced during WPC10) UPDATE: It’s out now. All in all it was really nice to handle Windows Phone 7 again and chat with the smart guys at Microsoft. Stay tuned for more…
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