As expected, a ton of Windows Phone 7 Series information was announced today on the first day of Microsoft’s MIX10 event being held in Las Vegas. After combing through various CNET, PC Magazine, PC World, and Microsoft press releases, here are the major tidbits that you need to know about the new OS platform, and application development for the platform.

First off, Microsoft announced to would-be developers a list of features that one would find with your typical Windows Phone 7 Series phones including:

• Built-in accelerometer
• Microsoft Location Service providing developers with a single point of reference to acquire location info
• Microsoft Notification Service for pushing info to the phone – regardless of the application state
• Hardware-accelerated video with DRM
• Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming
• Multi-touch support
• Built-in camera and microphone support

To make use of all of these features, Microsoft announced a suite of development tools to support Windows Phone 7 Series development. The new development package includes previews of the following:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
• Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC
• XNA Game Studio 4.0
• Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for app testing
• Express Blend for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview

As for application development for the new platform, developers will be working with Silverlight and the XNA Framework. Silverlight will be used for “rich application development” while the XNA Framework will be used to develop games for the platform.  Sorry but native applications will not be allowed on the handset. The UI will only run interpreted or managed code through Silverlight or XNA. (this comes courtesy of PC World)

What about Flash you ask? Well Microsoft confirmed that Adobe was indeed working on a version of Flash for Windows Phone 7.

We talked about the rumored multi-tasking support coming to the iPhone OS 4.0. What about the Windows Phone 7 Series you might ask? CNET has an interesting article covering this topic and here are some of the tidbits:

• The underlying kernel will of course support multitasking. Just like the iPhone, one can play music while running another application such as checking his/her calendar
• However, there’s no guarantee that multitasking will be available on the platform. Microsoft is working on ensuring applications can save their state when going into the background

OK – so we know some of the development details related to Windows Phone 7 Series. What about how one goes about distributing apps? That falls into the new Windows Phone Marketplace. Here’s what Microsoft announced about the upcoming Marketplace today:

• Marketplace will feature panoramic design and active merchandising to increase discoverability of games and apps
• Supports one-time credit card purchases
• Allows for mobile operator billing
• Allows for advertising-funded apps
• Will allow for try-before-buy model
• Allow developers to cross promote apps through “deep linking”

Microsoft also showcased a number of applications which will make their debut with Windows Phone 7 Series including:

• Electronic Arts
• Glu Mobile
• Seesmic
• Foursquare
• Associated Press
• Pandora
• Sling Media
• SPB Software

Check out additional pictures of sample third party applications over at PC Magazine.

Some of you might have wondered – what’s the deal with Zune HD and Windows Phone 7 Series? Well here’s what we know thus far courtesy of CNET,

• Every Windows Phone 7 handset will offer the complete functionality of Zune HD including wireless sync
• The handset will automatically find and connect to your Wi-Fi network. Once it finds it and your PC, Zune software will launch and automatically perform a two-way sync of all your music, videos, and pictures
• It’s not clear whether Zune Pass will continue with Windows Phone 7 Series.

Finally to get a hold of all of the latest press releases, SDKs, and information, head over to http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/mix/. You’ll be able to find the Windows Phone Developer tools and emulator, Silverlight 4 RC, and other tidbits.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, MIX10, Windows Phone 7 Series