In the lead up to the Windows Phone Mango announcement, there were a lot of juicy tit bits making the rounds, one of the more exciting was an idea that Windows Phone developers would gain early access to the OS build. In no way was it stated how that would be delivered, and in a tweet after the announcement Joe Belfiore, confirmed Microsoft’s intention to get this done. That plan though was later revised, let’s face it, for Microsoft to push out an over the air update to select developer handsets on a variety of carriers, and over 12 different handsets[counting the originally released developer handsets], would be a logistical nightmare. I’m sure Microsoft are taking into account, the teething problems they had with the first round of updates they issued, in deciding to release a Mango developer phone. Seems that WinRumors, have the low down, from reliable “anonymous” informers, said to be close to the source, or inside Microsoft, that these developer phones will start being shipped as early as next week. I don’t know about you but anonymous gets around, and makes for some good copy.
The software giant has been planning the developer device for the past few weeks and is set to release the first round of devices next week, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans.
Even if that’s solid info, the questions become “How do I qualify for one? Where can I apply to get one? Will every registered developer get one? What actually will the device be?”
It seems unlikely that Microsoft would ship over 35,000 Mango equipped devices to developers all over the world, and is more likely to ship phones to prominent bloggers and developers first ( as they did after MIX 2010). As to questions about what the device may be, probably the device we’ve seen the most third party previews of the OS on, the HTC Trophy look alike, the rumoured HTC Mazaa. The whole developer device situation has not really been fleshed out by Microsoft,and it leaves lot’s of questions, so at this point all I can really say is roll on September!
