Unlocking tool for Windows Phone 7 released

Homebrew software developers can now fully unlock their Windows Phone 7 handsets with a tool that was released Saturday.

 

The long-awaited ChevronWP7 is now available for $9 and allows for unlimited unlocking, and will require a Windows Live account.

 

"ChevronWP7 Labs was designed to allow hobbyist developers to install, run, and debug unsigned applications on their personal Windows Phone. You log into the site with your Windows Live ID, pay a small fee, and presto — you’re ready to write and share some homebrew code," ChevronWP7 creators Rafael Rivera, Chris Walsh, and Long Zheng said.

 

The tool is live at https://labs.chevronwp7.com/.

 

A separate article on The Next Web said that when ChevronWP7 initially came out, Microsoft reached out to its developers and had them pull it.

 

The Next Web also noted that as early as 2006, Microsoft surprised many when it started to work on homebrew development - for its Xbox gaming console.

 

"It was a strategy that worked well for the Xbox: play into the hands of the trend-setters, taste-makers, bloggers, pundits, and experts, and by letting them do their own ‘thing,’ give the platform in question its own personality apart from the Microsoft brand," it said. — TJD, GMA News