[sc:mobile-category ]So Microsoft has finally decided to launch the Windows Phone 8 SDK, but in an unusual way.
First this is just a “preview” of the SDK. Which means it’s still in flux, which seems odd at this late of date in the cycle. Normally if we were going to see an October release, Microsoft would have RTM’d the software months ahead of time (like it did with Windows 8) to give partners and developers time to get ready for the launch.
The preview is only going to be open to existing developers with at least one app in the Marketplace, and even then to a limited number of people. I will certainly be in line to get a copy, but with only one app in the Marketplace I doubt I’ll be high on the list to get it.
So this means I’ll have to wait, until the release of WP8 to get my hands on it, which seems strange, but I guess MS is running up to the last minute on this one to get everything done.
Hopefully that doesn’t result in a low quality product.
Another very odd thing about the announcement is that it occurred just hours after the Nokia/Microsoft press conference for the new Lumias. Microsoft took the stage twice during the conference, wouldn’t have been great for the to make the announcement live instead of in a blog post?
I wonder if they felt some pressure to release something due to the SDK leak a few weeks ago?
Don’t know for sure but I’ll be interested to see how things unfold over the next several weeks.
