Beginning Windows® Phone 7 Application Development: Building Windows® Phone Applications Using Silverlight® and XNA®

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Introducing Windows Phone 7

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER:

• Learning the history of the Windows Mobile platform
• Understanding the new Windows Phone 7 platform
• Understanding the differences between Silverlight and XNA
• Using Windows Phone 7 development tools
• Creating your first Windows Phone 7 app

As you may have noticed lately, mobile application development is at the forefront of the industry. Not since the glory days of the mid- to late 1990s has it been quite this exciting to be a software developer. Why all this new excitement about a hardware platform that has existed for quite some time? You don't have to look much further than the introduction of cheaper smartphones to the masses. Even grandma and grandpa probably have a smartphone by now, and they may want to know when you are going to start writing your own mobile app. Of course, to do so, you need to pick a smartphone platform. Given that you have picked this book, it's safe to assume that you're going to write applications for the latest entry into the smartphone world: Windows Phone 7.

Even though we seem to be entering an era where Droid and iPhone are becoming the dominant platforms for mobile development, it is important to note that Microsoft actually did have a viable mobile development platform before most of the other companies even had any plans to enter this market. So although Microsoft is seemingly late to the party, it really isn't: It has quite a bit of history and experience in mobile development. ...