Microsoft eases procurement of WP7 dev phones

Microsoft is trying to make it easier for any developer to get their hands onWindows Phone 7devices for building and testing applications.

Ina blog postthis afternoon detailing some of today'spreviously announced updatesto the Windows Phone Developer Tools, Brandon Watson, who is Microsoft's director of developer relations, said that the company had partnered withZones.comto let developers buy Windows Phone 7 devices without a voice or data contract.

The phones, which run the gamut from $500 to $525, include HTC's HD7 and Surround, along with the Samsung Focus come carrier locked, though can be had without venturing to a carrier, or third-party retail site to make the purchase.

In the past Microsoft has made a concerted effort toget devices into developer hands, even before the official launch. That includes last year's Professional Developers Conference where all paid attendees were given phones following the keynote, a week ahead of the U.S launch. That said, to get additional or replacement devices, Microsoft had been encouraging developers to go through carriers, where contract strings were attached.

Updated numbers
Along with that news, Watson also provided an update to the number of developers and apps within its library, and there have been noted improvements in just a week's time.

Microsoft now says the number of registered Windows Phone developers is 27,000, up from the 24,000 metric the company had cited just a week ago. Those developers have also bumped up the number of apps on Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace to"more than 7,500"marking an increase of 1,000 apps in a week's time.

To put both these metrics side-by-side, and over time since the launch of the device, here's what things look like using data Microsoft has provided over the past several months:

Microsoft has yet to provide concrete numbers on overall app downloads, though during thecompany's CES keynote, CEO Steve Ballmer said that more than half of Windows Phone 7 users were downloading a new application every day. By comparison, competitor Apple announced that it hadtopped 10 billion application downloadsin its less than three year old App Store last month.

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