THE MAIN stay of the Microsoft stable at the MIX10 Developer conference 2010, which began at Las Vegas on Monday, was the Microsoft Windows 7 phone. The company released a lot of details about the phone - from its operating system, new features,applications and the developer program. The company went on to announce free phone versions of its developer tools.

Joe Belifore, Vice President, Windows Phone Management Program said, "In February we had a very big day for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series, when we unveiled our new user experience [in Barcelona, Spain]. Today for us is an equally big day as we announce our developer platform. enlist you to build a great set of experiences for users who will bring home a Windows Phone 7 device.

"Windows Phone 7 Series brings together a rich application environment, powerful hardware, a fresh approach to software, and a smart new design", he added.

In accordance with this, the company has released Silverlight Version 4 for developers, which provides a grid for thousands of objects to be presented as lists or tables. An Expression Blend 4 was also announced, which is a GUI oriented design and code generating toolkit.

The focus on developer tools for Microsoft Windows 7 series also raised a few doubts. Many asked on how the company would structure the details of the Windows Phone Marketplace, in a way that developers, who use these tools in making their apps, could also publish and sell their work. Many were also doubtful over how developers could integrate applications with the WP7 hubs, wthe visual locations of where like content is grouped.