For a comprehensive overview of the Windows Phone platform and how it is designed to support many different types of application, see the video presentation “Overview of the Windows Phone 7 Series Application Platform” on the MIX website (http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/CL13).
To see a more detailed description of the underlying mechanisms and architecture of the Windows Phone 7 operating system and how you can interact with services, see the video presentation “Windows Phone Application Platform Architecture” on the MIX website (http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/CL18).
Microsoft provides a portal for developers to help them get started writing applications for Windows Phone 7. This includes
information about the operating system and the device capabilities, developer resources, forums, tools for working with Windows Phone 7, and access to a market place for selling and distributing applications. You can find this portal on the Microsoft App Hub website (http://developer.windowsphone.com/windows-phone-7/).
In addition, the MSDN site includes full documentation for developing for Windows Phone 7. See “Windows Phone Development” (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff402535(VS.92).aspx).
A useful frequently asked questions (FAQ) for getting started with Windows Phone 7 is available on the Microsoft Windows Phone forum (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsphone7series/thread/2892a6f0-ab26-48d6-b63c-e38f62eda3b3).
General information about the Windows Phone 7 platform is available from “Application Platform Overview for Windows Phone” on MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff402531(VS.92).aspx).