You will be able to watch the announcements live today starting at 9:30 eastern from:

http://bit.ly/wp7live

If you prefer not to watch the video, but just check in on what’s being announced, check out engadget’s liveblog:

http://bit.ly/ewp7live

Don’t forget to download the free tools from:

http://bit.ly/pswp7sdk

Once you have the tools, you will surely want some free training:

http://bit.ly/99jhVq

Once you are spun up, you’d be silly not enter my team’s app contest:

http://bit.ly/fedappscontest

Windows Phone 7 Developer Launch

Windows Phone 7 is here – and with it comes a new world of opportunity for passionate, creative developers. Windows Phone 7 gives you the power to build complex, robust applications using consistent hardware specs, a comprehensive development toolkit, and the all-new, full-service Marketplace for selling your apps. We want you to be ready to capitalize on this new frontier, so we’re launching two days of fast-paced learning to get you up and running with Windows Phone 7 development. Check out the agenda and pick the day that best fits your needs – or join us for both. The choice is yours. Whatever you can imagine, you’ll get the information you need to build high-demand apps with Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone 7 Development Launch: Jump-Start Your Mobile Development (Day 1) – Register here

In the first of this two-day launch event, we’ll take you under the hood of Windows Phone 7 and the Windows Phone 7 platform with a progressive set of learning sessions. We’ll start with the basic tools and fundamentals of Windows Phone 7 application development, plus key design guidelines and our philosophy behind the all-new Metro interface paradigm. As the day unfolds, we’ll go deeper into Windows Phone 7 development scenarios using Silverlight, XNA and the Windows Phone 7 SDK. You’ll also see how to earn cash for your apps in the fully loaded Windows Phone 7 Marketplace.

Agenda

Kick Off – Welcome

Session 1: Introduction to the Windows Phone 7 Platform

Session 2: Monetizing Your Apps with Marketplace and Mobile Ads

Break

Session 3: Windows Phone 7 Design Guidelines 

Lunch

Session 4: Building Windows Phone Applications with Silverlight 

Session 5: Building Windows Phone 7 Applications using XNA

Break

Session 6: Windows Phone 7 Services 

Wrap Up -  Q & A – Raffle

Windows Phone 7 Developer Launch: Unleash Your Best App Workshop (Day 2) – Register here

The second day of this launch event is all about turning those napkin sketches and subway scribbles into real, sellable apps. This half-day will be a hands-on application development workshop. You’ll apply fundamental Windows Phone 7 design principles to build an app and upload it to the fully revamped Marketplace. These working sessions are designed to unleash your creativity and help you move from idea to reality, so go at your own pace or follow along with a proctored group lab. Either way, you’ll get step-by-step advice from Microsoft and community experts. It’s an unprecedented opportunity to stake your claim in the marketplace – using familiar tools and consistent specs.

Available workshop/lab topics will include:

• Creating your First Windows Phone 7 Application
• Windows Phone Navigation and Controls
• Using Push Notifications
• Launchers and Choosers
• Application Lifecycle
• Game Development with XNA Framework
• And much more

Required Event Preparation:

• Please pre-install the Windows Phone Developer Tools available here on your personal laptop that you will be bringing to the event.  Your PC must run Windows Vista or Windows 7 in order to work with the Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools.

Joel Reyes, our team’s Windows Phone 7 Champ, just put up a blog post talking about Government Apps on Windows Phone 7.  Check it out.

http://bit.ly/d5liKP

Part of my team’s job this year is to get out and encourage developers to build citizen facing applications that get submitted to the Windows Phone Marketplace.  Two common questions are: