Microsoft Ireland has launched the Microsoft AppChallenge in a bid to encourage Irish developers to create content for the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Developers who take part in the competition to develop apps for use in Windows Phone 7 could win a grand prize of €5,000, an “audience choice” prize of €2,500, a best student app prize of €1,000 and a best professional app prize of €1,000.
All winners also get an Xbox 360 Elite and a 12-month Xbox Live Gold membership.
The judging panel includes Kevin Foley from Digital Reach, Jennifer O’Carroll from O2, Microsoft employees and other guests from the Irish mobile sector and development community.
“The AppChallenge forms part of the ongoing conversation between Microsoft Ireland and Ireland’s local developer community,” said Dave Northey, technology evangelist for Microsoft Ireland.
“We work with developers across all of our platforms, hosting deployment labs and events on a regular basis to ensure they have all of the tools they need. We are also supportive of student developers, offering them access to the Developer Marketplace for free through DreamSpark.
“We’ve received great feedback on the Windows Phone 7 platform to date and are really excited to see the entries submitted in response to this challenge,” said Northey.
This competition follows the recent announcement that the beta version of the Windows Phone 7 Developers Tools have gotten more than 300,000 downloads globally since its launch in July.
These tools include Silverlight controls to make it easier for developers to create content for the platform.
The latest version of these developer tools include test builds of Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, Windows Phone Emulator, Expression Blend for Windows Phone and XNA Game Studio 4.0.
Microsoft has said that companies who will create apps and games for the platform include The Associated Press, Konami Digital Entertainment, Weather Bug and Foursquare Labs.
