According to XML Journal, Microsoft has released their developer tools for Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has released these tools with what is known as general availability, which translates into these tools being out there for everyone.

The big takeaway from the article was how easy it was said to be to develop for this up and coming platform. Obviously developing for Windows Phone 7 still requires some programming experience, but the development process itself was described as being quite fluid.

The apps for Windows Phone 7 will need to be impressive, in order to make a dent in the already crowded market. Network World has a tremendous slide show offering, to illustrate what future Windows Phone 7 users can expect from upcoming applications to this platform.

The biggest question will likely be where the new users will come from? Considering that most users looking to smart phones are either seeking the iPhone or some Android based phone, the app experience presented by Windows Phone 7 had better be pretty darn impressive. Based on the previews I have seen thus far, I’d say that Microsoft might actually have a fighting chance here.

It’s like Microsoft has torn a page from Apple iPhone history. The up and coming Windows Phone 7 device will not come with copy and paste functionality. As Engadget explains, this fact has been confirmed and reconfirmed. There is to be NO copy and paste in this mobile OS despite the Windows Mobile OS providing it as far back as anyone can remember.

The icing on the cake for me was the statement made by Microsoft in which they reminded us that no one in the enterprise environment really uses copy and paste. Seriously Microsoft, are you really this forgetful? The idiocy of not being able to copy and paste with the Windows Phone 7 release is going to give Microsoft a big and totally avoidable, backlash.

So will Windows Phone 7 truly be, the defining iPhone killer? Some people seem to believe so. And this piece from The Next Web, presents a number of strong arguments in favor of the new mobile OS.

The UI appears to be among the strongest reasons for posting points in Microsoft’s corner. Apparently the author of the piece linked above feels that “tiles” out-rank icons from their perspective. Now the point about MS Office, is something I would actually agree with. Bundle that with mobile gaming and a strong entrance into the mobile apps realm and a lack of a single centralized method for billing…it would seem that Microsoft might really be able to give Apple a run for their money.

With all of the hoopla in the belief that upcoming Windows Phone 7 device is going to be Microsoft’s saving grace in the enterprise mobile market, this piece from eWeek reminds us that Microsoft is in for a huge up hill battle.

Out of each of the reasons presented as to where Microsoft’s biggest enterprise challenge fall, the ones that stood out to me the most were the following. The iPhone already has much of the enterprise market. Worse, what the iPhone does have, RIM’s Blackberry makes up the difference. This is Microsoft’s last chance at doing something successfully in the mobile space. After all, they cannot keep throwing money at the mobile space forever without seeing a greater return.

One of the most closely watched Apple iPad sales bloggers Deagol’s AAPL Model estimated that first day orders hit 120,000 units but dropped off dramatically to end the weekend with a total of about 152,000 Apple iPads sold.

“That number is low,” says an industry analyst who is independently monitoring the iPad sales. The analyst, who is collecting sales data for clients and asked not to be identified, says the current tally is conservative and actual iPad sales are significantly higher. The analyst declined to offer an estimate however.

Read the whole story at TheStreet.

Ninth time’s the charm, sometimes! At least that’s Microsoft’s hope with IE9, which they’ve just announced at Mix, brings new HTML5 support (including HTML5 video!), hardware-accelerated 2D graphics, and a totally new JavaScript engine—and no XP support.

Microsoft’s just demoed the latest build of IE9, the final version of which doesn’t yet have a release date, and for something as sleepy as a browser, it’s pretty cool.

Read the whole story at Gizmodo.

While Google doesn’t publicly show how many applications there are in Android Market, a Google representative this morning informed me that the application store now serves approximately 30,000 free and paid apps in total.

The application store for Android devices supposedly hit the 10,000 apps milestone in September 2009 according to third-party developer AndroLib, who later also claimed that number doubled in just over 3 months.

Read the whole story at MobileCrunch.

Verizon’s just posted details on the Droid’s upgrade to Google’s latest and greatest cut, and you’ve got the expected host of goodies including the new 3D Gallery app, voice-to-text, news and weather widgets, pinch-to-zoom support, “improved” pattern lock, and — get this — live wallpapers, something we’d originally thought Motorola might leave out. It appears to lack the Nexus One’s 3D app launcher (which we’d expected), but it’s still pure gold for owners.

Read the full story at Engadget.

The developer version of Chrome for Mac just released an update that allows users to manage bookmarks better than ever before. (If you’re reading this, you should use the developer version.)

Before today, bookmarks in Chrome for Mac were unbearable. Now they are a joy to click, drag around, delete and rename. The only remaining problem I see? Major issues with Adobe Flash. Is there anything else you wish was fixed in Chrome?

Read the full story at ReadWriteWeb.