Microsoft’s new stance on people hacking and tinkering with its products has been on display with its actions towardsexperimentation on the Kinect, but the company is also working to ensure that anyone who wants to play with its Windows Phone platform can do so.
To that end, the company is working with a group ofpreviously renegade hackerswho built the most popular unapproved unlocking tool for Windows Phone handsets.
Today the group unveiled that its eventual solution, built with the nod from Microsoft, should cost a mere $9. Its mission isas follows: “In collaboration with Microsoft, we (the ChevronWP7 team) will be delivering on our goal to make Windows Phone development more accessible by providing an approved device unlocking solution for a small fee.”
Chris Walsh, a popular figure in the Windows Phone community and member of the ChevronWP7 team,compared the priceof its coming tool to the normal developer fee of $99 to develop for the platform: “@ailon You’re still paying $100, labs is only $9. /cc @WithinRafael.”
The reason that Microsoft is working with ChevronWP7, and not fighting against them, is to lower the barrier to entry in regards to Windows Phone development. There are surely more people willing to pay $9 than $99 to play around with the Windows Phone software and hardware, and the more that do, it seems to follow, the more total apps will be built for the platform.
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Therefore, to Microsoft, the coming tool from ChevoronWP7 is a bridge to allow more developers to enter its mobile domain. The tool was promised to be coming “soon” in the middle of June.
Story byAlex Wilhelm
Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at alex@thenextweb(show all)Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex onTwitter,and onFacebook.You can reach Alex via email atalex@thenextweb.com
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