Since the announcement last week of Windows Phone 8 and 7.8 the folk at Microsoft have put out a couple of new noteworthy YouTube uploads. From Marketplace milestone celebrations – to Ben the PC Guy looking very Metro showing off the 7.8 start screen changes in Magenta – and I’m not talking the colour of his phone! You can catch them all right here, and pay attention cause in the first one there is something interesting about the video which may not be obvious at first.

Firstly, Windows Phone has hit the magical 100,000 Apps mark in less than 2 years since it’s launch. A very impressive achievement indeed! The beautiful design and UI of the Windows Phone platform aside, the Developer support and focus since 2012 has probably been the most successful component of Windows Phone’s debut. We estimate that somewhere between 1.5-2% of those Apps are from DownUnder, and of course all Aussie Developers should be submitting their Apps into our Free App catalogue at Developed Down Under.

If you watched the video closely, you might have noticed two interesting observations The first is that per our earlier editorial on the “re-branding” of Windows Phone – the video puts a Nokia Lumia front and centre as the device of choice - showing off the unmistakable form factor of the Lumia 800/900 range. Secondly, that both it, and it’s shorter edit version on YouTube, have begun the process of subliminally preparing the market for Windows 8. The design features extensive use of the “snap” visual appearance of multi-tasking within the Metro Win8 UI.

Having videos and other Apps pinned to the “side” with a main open app taking up the majority of screen hardware will be a prominent selling feature of Surface with Win8 when it debuts later this year. It looks fluid and natural – and already Developers should be considering their design layout to make optimal use of the “snap” options opened up for their Apps. Compare it to the MS official Windows 8 Release Preview short promo:

The other new MS video is an early tour of the new Windows Phone 8 and 7.8 revised start screen. Ben the PC Guy shows us how easy it is to select from the 3 options, with 1/4 size tiles and full width tiles now open to users for expanded customisation of their start screens. Even better, they all retain the Live Tile capability that so distinguishes Windows Phone from other platforms! Sweet

Thanks Ben! We can’t wait to see 7.8 hit the market. Hopefully we can all receive it well before the Windows 8 devices which are due to hit later this year. As posted earlier, there’s also this featured video from Microsoft on the new start screen (click picture below).

Sheeds.

Open Youtube Video - MS intro new start screen.