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The ChevronWP7
tool that allowed people to unlock Windows
Phone 7 phones has been withdrawn by the developers after Microsoft
got in touch with a compromise over homebrew apps.
Microsoft “has agreed to engage in further discussions with us
about officially facilitating homebrew development on WP7,” the
ChevronWP7 developers wrote on
their blog. “To fast-track discussions, we are discontinuing the
unlocking tool effective immediately.”
ChevronWP7 was targeted at developers who wanted to install
home-made
apps on their phones without going through the official Windows
Marketplace app store or purchasing a developer account. It didn’t
affect the SIM lock that limits a phone to work only on a particular
network.
We’re impressed Microsoft is reaching out to talk to hackers, rather than reaching for the cease-and-desist letters — assuming it didn’t just leave a horse’s head in their beds. It remains to be seen how the company will help people who
want to play in their phones’ sandbox, without worrying about digitally
signing or publishing their apps.
Microsoft knows it’s got to tempt
developers to Windows Phone 7, which is sprinting to catch up with the
app stores on other platforms. Apple’s
iOS and Android
both have over 100,000 apps in their shops, while Windows Phone 7 has
roughly 3,000, according to its developer
blog.
The company seems to take the challenge seriously — the ChevronWP7
team was contacted by Brandon
Watson, who has been tasked by Microsoft with “getting our
developer mojo back”.
Previously, the makers of the unlocking tool denied that it would encourage pirated apps and discourage developers from
contributing new ones to the Marketplace. They insisted that Marketplace
apps have sufficient security measures so that you can’t sideload them
— that is, transfer them directly to your phone without using the app
store — or run them on your phone, whether it’s unlocked or not.
