Thank You
First things first. Thank you to everyone who came out last night for Windows Phone Unleashed @ TechWeek! We had just the right number of attendees and 21 innovative App Pitches. Just a few more attendees and we might have seen sunrise at the AON Center. To those that couldn’t make it out, but spread the word and extended the invite to others, thank you!
Thank you to everyone who helped organize the event including Dave Bost, Matt Hidinger, Mary Perisic, Deanna Robison, Connie Bernard and others. Without everyone’s help this would not have come together so nicely and quickly. A huge thank you to Microsoft for sponsoring the event, providing everyone a great meal, and giving away all of the great prizes, cash and swag. And lastly, thanks to Centare for providing the beverages and energy drinks. I don’t think I would have made it home without being hopped up on Monster and AMP.
Build
Last night, we saw some amazing pitches and now it’s time to take the great ideas and make them real in the Windows Phone Marketplace. The following are some great resources to help you get started developing for the Windows Phone. Regardless of your preferred learning style, one of these resources will be perfect for you. There are instructional videos, hands-on labs, sample code, books, technical documentation and blogs.
Windows Phone Tools
http://create.msdn.com
Windows Phone 7 Training Course
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/wp7trainingcourse.aspx
Windows Phone 7 Developer Guide (Patterns & Practices)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg490765.aspx
Windows Phone MSDN Documentation
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff402535%28v=VS.92%29.aspx
Windows Phone Team Blog
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/
Make $$$
As I mentioned last night, there is a huge opportunity to make serious money with the Windows Phone. The following are some resources to get you started making money with Windows Phone.
Microsoft pubCenter – Monetizing with Ads
http://pubcenter.microsoft.com
My Presentation on SkyDrive
Making $$$ With Windows Phone
WIN BIG!!!
We gave away some awesome prizes last night, one person left with an Unlocked Samsung Focus, and three others left with cash ranging from $75 to $225. The goods news is there are more opportunities to win and get Marketplace accounts. If you attended last night and would like to be notified of the ways to win more great prizes, including the exclusive special offer that was announced for attendees who get apps in the Marketplace, email me and let me know that you want “More Prizes” and I’ll add you to that list. It is very likely that we will be have more events like this one in the near future, if you would like to be notified of upcoming events like this one, even if you didn’t attend last night, email me and let me know that you want “More Events” and I’ll add you to that list.
Community
A final note, whenever you begin any new journey, it’s often helpful to find people with similar interests that can offer collaboration, support and help you make progress on your journey. The Chicago Windows Phone Developer Group is a great community you should consider joining and getting integrated into.
Chicago Windows Phone Developer Group
http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-Windows-Phone-Developers
Once more, thank you everyone!
It’s June, and That Conference is just around the corner. Which conference, you ask? That Conference! That Conference is a 3 day developer conference taking place in the Wisconsin Dells, August 13th-15th. At That Conference you will learn and geek out on everything Mobile, Web and Cloud with over 1,000 fellow campers, including me. Leading up to That Conference, hackathons are taking place in multiple Midwestern cities where you can code and compete for street cred and great prizes . Not only can you win big, but your city’s reputation is on the line and needs you to be the next big deal. That Conference is searching the Midwest for the best developers and the top two teams from each city will compete at That Conference to win the audience’s vote. So your city’s reputation really is on the line. Developers, you should prepare, develop some great ideas, rest up, caffeinate and get ready to dominate the upcoming That Conference Hackathon’s. The first hackathon begins today in Chicago.