Microsoft unlocks Windows Phone 7 developers
-Microsoft is making a change to its policies for Windows Phone 7 that will allow applications to more easily run when the screen is turned off.
Until now, applications that wanted to run when the screen was locked had to get the user's explicit permission. Under new rules announced on Friday, programs can do so without permission--provided they first demonstrate to Microsoft that they only use a reasonable amount of battery life (allowing more than six hours of use for an app playing audio and more than 120 hours for a program that does not play audio).
The move comes as the first Windows Phone 7 devices have gone on sale in Europe and Asia, with the first phones hitting the U.S. market on November 8. The policy change is a matter of both convenience--audio apps, for example, make sense to play when the screen is off--as well as fairness. Many of Microsoft's own apps, including application downloading, e-mail syncing, and Zune playback and downloads are all allowed to happen in the background.
