It’s a problem encountered by every (WP7) app developer: users leaving reviews and there’s just no way to contact them. How often did you want to clarify features misunderstood by a user? Or just want to let the user know you appreciate the input and will consider their feedback for a future update? A while ago Silverlight MVP and PicturesLab developer Rene Schulte shared his manual way of contacting reviewers through Zune social on his blog. Although this works in only 50% of the cases it is the best method I am currently aware off. Therefore I decided to integrate messaging users with the existing WP7 Review Reader I built a while ago. This provides developers with an easy way of contacting their customers. Here’s how to use it:

Three months ago i released the Windows Phone 7 Review Reader to give WP7 developers easy access to their app reviews all over the world. It was meant to be a temporary solution until the App Hub was updated with extra features like accessing app reviews. During the last 90 days we’ve seen some big improvements to the App Hub (download numbers, for starters) but we are still waiting for some extra features. My little tool already had over 50K pageviews since its launch on the 2nd of November so it should be clear that developers want this information. To fill the gap that’s still left by Microsoft i will start to add new features to the review reader on a regular basis starting today.

Last friday i did a Windows Phone 7 introduction in front of about 500 students in Doetinchem. Since this blogpost is pointed at the students who attended, it will be presented in Dutch. Stay tuned for some more WP7 articles in English. Afgelopen vrijdag organiseerde Microsoft in samenwerking met het Graafschap College een ochtend met technische sessies voor MBO-studenten uit de regio Doetinchem. In het Amphion waren uiteindelijk ruim 500 studenten aanwezig voor een sessie van Tony Krijnen en Daniel van Soest over Windows 2008 R2/Windows 7 en aansluitend een sessie van mij over Windows Phone 7.  Gelukkig heb ik al veel enthousiaste reacties gekregen, wel hebben een aantal studenten aangegeven graag wat meer informatie te willen om eens rustig aan de slag te kunnen met Windows Phone 7. In deze blogpost vinden jullie alle benodigde informatie.

It’s been about 2 weeks since the first Windows Phone 7 devices became available and the Windows Phone 7 Applications Marketplace officially launched. This means consumers now have access to all the applications and for us developers this means our products (apps) can actually be sold. Unfortunately Microsoft does not provide easy access to reviews on the marketplaces just yet, all you can do is fire up the Zune software and check out the ratings in your local marketplace. I discussed this issue with Matthijs Hoekstra and have been trying to find a solution during the last few days.Fortunately i found one:

Yesterday my MSP colleagues in Eindhoven organised a lunchbreak event as a kickoff towards the rest of the year. Together with study society GEWIS they managed to attract around 90 students, so the event was a success before it event started. The event would consist of two parts. The first 45 minutes would be filled by me talking about Windows Phone 7 and application development followed by the Eindhoven MSPs introducing themselves, the MSP programme and possible benefits for the students.