Windows Phone Developer Group Formed in San Francisco

With the impending release of Mango, I thought it was time to start a group for Windows Phone developers in San Francisco.  You can find us through the easily remembered URL https://create.msdn.com/sf, which redirects to the group’s homepage on meetup.com.

We’ll have weekly meetups throughout the fall covering projects from Adam Nathan’s excellent book, 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps.  The first 11 projects provide a great foundation for Windows Phone development, and we’ll walk through a chapter each week.  You don’t need to purchase the book, but I highly recommend it.  You can even buy it minutes before our meetups using the Nook for PC app, or something similar.  That’s what I do myself.  I don’t even own the hardcopy version.

We’ll intersperse these weekly discussions about Adam’s book with monthly presentations from our own members.  Several developers have already expressed interest in talking about apps they’ve made.  Drop me a note if you’d like to present.  This is the same format followed by the Silicon Valley Windows Phone Developers group (https://create.msdn.com/siliconvalley).

Our first meetup is scheduled for Thursday, September 22, in the Microsoft offices in San Francisco at 835 Market Street Suite 700, right above the Powell Street BART Station.  Consider getting takeout from the food court in the lower level of the Westfield Centre beforehand, and bring it up to the meetup.  We’ll start eating at 6:30 in the Microsoft offices and launch into the presentation after we’ve gotten to know each other.

Windows Phone development is a dream.  I’ll almost go as far as saying it’s actually hard to make a bad app.  Be sure to download the free development tools by clicking here.  You don’t even need a phone to start developing.  Everything you need is included in the free developer tools.  Nokia's move to Windows Phone and the terrific new features in Mango make now the most exciting time to get started with Windows Phone development.

See you there!