Got College Students? Want $5,000? Write some WP7 Apps....

GOT STUDENTS?
WANT XBOX GAME?
WANT A SHOT AT $5,000?
WRITE WP7 APPS!!!

If you're a college student 18 years of age or older have I got a contest for you. If you're one of the first 1,000 to submit a Windows Phone app From April 11 to June 30 2011, you'll automatically receive one of selection of Xbox games. Sweet.

The student submitting the most approved apps during the Promotion Period will receive $5,000. The three students submitting the second, third, and fourth most approved apps during the Promotion Period will each receive a prize of $1,000. Read more at the official rules here - https://www.wpstudentapp.com/terms.html . Again, sweet.

So you're a student and still reading, let's strategize on some app strategies and blockers for you.

First, the $99 marketplace registration fee. Students get to register for the Windows Phone App Hub for free. No $99 fee required. Here's a great walkthrough of the DreamSpark App Hub registration process by Edwin Guarin - https://blogs.msdn.com/b/edvangelist/archive/2011/04/26/dreamspark-and-apphub-registration-process-revealed.aspx  .

Second, developer tools. Again, free. Just download and install. Use the emulator for testing your apps. Pull them down from https://create.msdn.com .

Third, cranking out some apps. Shhhh.  Here's a secret. You dont need to "know the code"  to build WP7 Apps. You can just use AppMakr.  AppMakr lets you take RSS feeds, input them, and it will generate a WP7 app for you.  AppMakr plus a contest with number of apps as a criteria equals a win for you. Find some good RSS and off you go. I've posted a walkthrough of the AppMakr process here for you to look at - https://blogs.msdn.com/b/devfish/archive/2011/04/21/appmakr-walkthrough-non-coders-can-build-windows-phone-7-apps.aspx . Also check out Susan Todd's post on AppMakr - https://blogs.msdn.com/b/susantodd/archive/2011/04/27/using-appmakr-for-wp7-apps.aspx  .

Fourth, want to do sophisticated apps past what AppMakr can do? Plenty of online learning resources available to you at create.msdn.com, and dfwiki.devfish.net. Course if you're East Coast USA you can drop by one of our Windows Phone Garage's occurring in May for a quick jump start - more info here - https://blogs.msdn.com/b/devfish/archive/2011/04/19/windows-phone-garage-ii-live-tampa-nyc-cambridge-atlanta-charlotte-malvern-dc-may-2011.aspx  .

There you go. Motive=prizes and money, Means=free devtools plus free student registration plus AppMakr for mass production. You should be a player in the WP7 student apps contest.  If you're a student, that is.

Interested in other contests that might be going on? I try and keep a list of contests Microsoft platform developers can play in at dfwiki.devfish.net.