Microsoft produced a promotional video with T-Mobile that highlights Windows Phone development and its integration with Windows Azure. Windows Azure is a cloud computing platform that supports wide variety of Internet services and remote applications. The back-end datacenters are hosted by Microsoft and the platform offers both an API and a client-side managed class library for developers to utilize. The cloud-based platform also integrates into Microsoft Visual Studio and can be used by Windows Phone developers looking to build a cloud component into their WP7 applications.
The joint T-Mobile and Microsoft video profiles the development and feature-set of T-Mobile Family Room application. Family Room is offered exclusively by T-Mobile as a solution for families with multiple Windows Phone handsets to share and communicate with each other. The Family Room application lets you share calendar entries, post notes on a white board, co-ordinate outings and share pictures. Each member of your family is alerted when a new item is posted. The app is available on the HTC HD7 which launched on T-Mobile in November.
Behind the scenes, the app is built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and ties into Windows Azure as its cloud solution. Using Visual Studio and Azure, the application took six weeks from start to finish. It also requires minimal server maintenance as that is handled by Microsoft and it Windows Azure platform. While the app may not appeal to everyone, it is an excellent example of what you can do with Microsoft’ s mature development platform and its bundled services.