Microsoft will begin accepting application submissions from developers for Windows Phone 7.5 Mango in “late August,” the company officially stated. Though there is no official word of when Mango will be available for the public, recent reports claim that the first Mango device will be available by Fujitsu in August in Japan and an accidental confirmation via Twitter could mean that Mango will get a US release in September. This new information seems to enhance the validity by that slipup.
In a blog post today, Microsoft outlined new features for developers in App Hub including geographic expansion, new private distribution options, and better application management. But most importantly, on their list of what developers should do was to submit apps (which is at best, obvious) with the aforementioned timeline of just a month from now.
We’re just about a month away from enabling developers to begin submitting Mango apps to App Hub. Developers will need to use the Windows Phone Release Candidate (RC) tools that we expect to make available in late August to finalize their Mango apps and submit to App Hub.
…
I hope you find this information useful and the resources give you what you need to be Mango-ready in August. It’s time to put the finishing touches on your Mango apps and have them ready to submit in August. Finally, thank you for contributing more than 23,000 apps in just 8 short months and making Windows Phone one of the most vibrant and fastest growing mobile ecosystems in history.
All signs thus far do point to September, but Microsoft has remained mum on pinpointing an actual date for Mango’s release.
UPDATE: Joe Belfiore just tweeted that the Mango Marketplace for devs opens on August 22nd.
