Remember ChevronWP7, the program that allowed you to unlock your Windows Phone 7 device so you could install new apps without using the Marketplace? Well, as of yesterday, the program will no longer work. Brandon Watson, Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone 7, had a chat with the creators of the program and they have now pulled it off the air. In the ChevronWP7 blog, it reads, “Through this discussion, we established a mutual understanding of our intent to enable homebrew opportunities and to open the Windows Phone 7 platform for broader access to developers and users. To pursue these goals with Microsoft’s support, Brandon Watson has agreed to engage in father discussions with us about officially facilitating homebrew development on WP7. To fast-track discussions, we are discontinuing the unlocking tool effective immediately.” The program is no longer available on the site and existing copies won’t work. Looks like WP7’s “unlocked” days are over… for now. I’m pretty sure somebody will come up with an alternative method in the near future.
