Windows Phone

Intro

I'm Peter and this is the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more whether you are beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!

Welcome

Welcome to episode forty-one of the RoguePlanetoid Podcast about Windows Phone. Sixteen years ago, Windows Phone was announced and released, a mobile platform from the past that helped shaped the present. Windows Phone for me started with the announcement in March and April of 2010 with a promise from the then CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, announcing what was then called Windows Phone Seven Series, stating that those who knew Silverlight were already a Windows Phone developer, so when the tooling and resources became available that's when my journey kicked off with Windows Phone, before it launched a few months later in October 2010.

History

Windows Phone wasn't the first mobile platform endeavour for Microsoft, as their Windows Mobile platform launched twenty-six years ago in 2000, which evolved throughout the years as a mobile platform that although popular at the time was not well known generally. It would be many years later around 2008, that I became interested in getting a Windows Mobile 6 device, I eagerly awaited the release, but unfortunately it had major issues, however Microsoft acquired Danger that year, which was the company behind the Sidekick, which was famously used by Paris Hilton at the time, so I decided to wait for a potential Windows Mobile version as my first smartphone.

Two years later in 2010 what came from this was not what I had expected, it was the Kin One, which was based upon the Danger Sidekick and Kin Two, which arrived and then were cancelled in quick succession, so I wasn't going to get one of those devices either. However, all was not lost as Microsoft had pivoted and announced Windows Phone 7 Series, which would be a new modern operating system for mobile, with applications based upon Silverlight. When Steve Ballmer, then CEO of Microsoft said that every Silverlight developer could be a Windows Phone developer, I took on the challenge and started learning the platform, to have my own apps on my very first smartphone.

Developers

Windows Phone 7 before launch had a fantastic developer experience, independent developers like me could use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, along with the Windows Phone Emulator to start creating their applications. I had been a Silverlight developer for a few years using Visual Basic .NET, although there was a hitch - the tooling didn't support Visual Basic.NET but C# instead, so I made the switch and have been a C# developer ever since. My first Windows Phone example was of course Hello World, shared as a tutorial for others to learn from, along with creating more examples, it was a quick platform to learn and helped me pick up C# at the same time. You can still find all the tutorials I created for Windows Phone at cespage.com/silverlight or check out the link in the show notes.

Windows Phone application development was straightforward, applications had a common design language using simple iconography with a clean user interface, which meant first party and third-party applications could look consistent. However, you could create more customised experiences expanding on the design language which was well defined so users could understand how to use different applications, as they could interact with them in the same way. Applications from other platforms could fit is as much as those created especially for Windows Phone, although in reality the platform did struggle to bring in applications from other platforms, for a variety of reasons including attempts from others, including Microsoft, to bring applications to the platform that were blocked or stopped.

Windows Phone for consumers would deliver the entertainment experience of Zune, a hardware-based music player backed by a marketplace of content which would be available on Windows Phone. Zune also had a fantastic social experience, known as Zune Social which had Zune Cards which used Flash, a web-based technology which wouldn't be supported on the device, so I had an idea to bring those social elements to Windows Phone as hadn't seen anything to indicate the release would launch with those features, so this was an opportunity to build that myself as an application for the platform until those social features arrived.

Personal

Before Windows Phone launched, I developed a Zune Social on Windows Phone application, called ZuneCardr, named after a web-based Silverlight application that I had created to convert Zune Cards into images, so had some experience of using the data already. I also was able to reuse the core of this application to create a second application, to view the Gamer Cards from Xbox available at the time in an application called GameCardr. I made good progress developing these apps, but I wanted to know if my apps would run on a real device and I didn't have one, thankfully there was an opportunity to travel from Newcastle to Manchester to test my apps on a real Windows Phone. You can find details of those apps preserved to this day at zunecardr.com and gamecardr.com or check out the links in the show notes.

When I saw my two apps running on a real Windows Phone in Manchester, which was the Samsung Taylor prototype, it was a transformative experience, where I was able to use and interact with my application just like a real user would, I realised there were things I could change and improve from this experience. So I returned home and continued to work on the applications and get them ready for launch, that day came in October 2010 on launch day here in the United Kingdom and picked up the HTC HD7, my first smart phone and when home the first thing I did was install my two apps, and they worked perfectly!

I continued to refine and improve my Windows Phone applications, especially the Zune Social app as those features were still not on Windows Phone, I added the ability to play full music tracks for those with Zune Pass, a music subscription service, after figuring out how this worked from the Zune application, also used by Windows Phone. Zune was well supported from a music and video perspective on Windows Phone, but the social features were never available except through my app, which gained almost four hundred thousand downloads over the lifetime of the platform.

Professional

Personally, through my tutorials I was sharing with others to learn Windows Phone and through my applications I built an experience of creating myself, then in 2011 came an opportunity to show off locally what I had created which opened a professional opportunity. I was presenting about my Zune Social application for Windows Phone and afterwards someone there approached me about working on a Windows Phone version of their application, so I met with them the following week and began working on this application for them, which was way to interact with experiences they were creating for venues and advertisements.

They already had an iOS and Android app and Windows Phone still was in the race so having that platform covered was a chance to turn my existing skills into another job, as I was also working part-time as web developer and those skills would come in handy there too. Their application had some challenges that helped push me as a developer and learned even more about the platform, working there allowed me to save up to pay off my student loan but instead of that in 2012 I travelled to Seattle for Microsoft Build, as Windows Phone was evolving with Windows Phone 8 which would deliver apps for desktop and mobile.

However, Windows Phone popularity was falling, and that version of the app was cancelled but I remained there working on their web platform instead but that wasn't my last professional experience developing for Windows Phone. I picked up contract to port an application to the platform which allowed me to purchase the first Surface Book, a device I use to this day as a dedicated device used to record this podcast, but the writing was on the wall for Windows Phone, which started as Windows Phone 7 Series, shortened to Window Phone 7 and ended with Windows Phone 8.

Conclusion

Windows Phone did eventually fail but that wasn't the end of mobile for Microsoft, that would come after with another platform, Windows 10 Mobile but that will be a story for another time. Windows Phone was a game changer, for developers it had a stable and easy to use platform, even before launch, where the tools were free and for a one-off fee you could publish your apps to the platform. Windows Phone helped bring a clean and modern user experience to mobile, which lives on today in Windows informing the experiences we have today with Windows 11 or feature on today's smartphones.

Windows Phone should have been more popular, it was incredibly straightforward to build for, so more applications should have been available because of that. I'm proud to say that my two apps, ZuneCardr and GameCardr were two of the first thousand apps available for Windows Phone, I learned so much from creating them, they opened up opportunities for me as a developer that shaped my career and brought me to where I am today, so although it failed, I owe so much of where I am thanks to Windows Phone.

Outro

Thanks for listening to the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where each episode you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more wherever you listen to your podcasts or at rogueplanetoid.com/podcasts for the RoguePlanetoid Podcast whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!