App Studio for Windows Phone BETA Released

Interesting new tool for Windows Phone developers is now in beta. Meet App Studio for Windows Phone.

App Studio guides you through building an app consuming various data sources.

Outputs will include a .xap ready to be sideloaded enterprise style via a supplied certificate, as well as source code for the application.

Note this tool is browser driven - no Windows 8 machine required - if you're not going to modify the source code that is. There are plans on the way for more goodies, so keep posted.

This is similar to appmakr or followmyfeed with a few very key differences. The 3rd party rapid app dev / prototyping tools for generating apps generally dont't give you source code, charging for various aspects of their platform.  Nor are the 3rd party tools offered and supported by the OS vendor (Apple, Google, or Microsoft).

Interesting scenarios include :

Prototyping

• Aspiring devs - put their ideas into play, modify, extend
• Accomplished dev looking for a quick look-and-feel tool - whiteboard or coding with extension in mind
• "Family Apps" - app doesn't have to be published to share it via certificate install path
• Enthusiast - develop own app, show to friends and such

If build some apps with this, let me know via a comment here.

MORE INFO

• App Studio Link - https://apps.windowsstore.com/default.html ( note right now the url REQUIRES default.htm on it )
• App Studio Feedback - https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/216486 
• Windows Phone Developer blog here - https://blogs.windows.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2013/08/06/making-it-easier-to-get-started-with-windows-phone-app-studio-beta-simplified-phone-registration-support-options-amp-more-payout-markets.aspx

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2013
  I was going to try this out, but it is asking me for an invitation code, which I can't find anywhere.

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2013
  Don't we have plenty of mediocre apps already? This is obviously a ploy to get the app count up. This worries me.

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2013
  @Morten, there are plenty of mediocre apps out there for android and iOS too, but the journalists seem to focus on the way higher numbers they have - regardless of quality.

• Anonymous
  August 07, 2013
  It would be nice if I could even get to this App, but so far other than a PDF that has some info every other links simply gets a 500 error which others have also reported.

• Anonymous
  August 07, 2013
  @chris - email link on there to request an invite code

• Anonymous
  August 07, 2013
  @Robert - something weird with the non-default page link.  Try apps.windowsstore.com/default.htm ( with the default.htm added ) and it should work.  I'll add that to this post and let them know.

• Anonymous
  August 07, 2013
  @morten - I could definitely see using it to get a starter base of code.  there are some bigger plans for it like extensibility and customization.  its a start to the journey, not an end point.