Microsoft Outlines Opportunity in the Cloud and on Devices at Professional Developers Conference 2010

Highlights Pixar Animation Studios’ adoption of Windows Azure, and customer momentum for Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 and Windows Phone 7.

Today at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC), Microsoft Corp. showcased how developers can build applications in the cloud to power rich, immersive device experiences. In addition to the developers in attendance at the company’s corporate campus in Redmond, Wash., the event was broadcast live over the Web, and reached more than 20,000 developers at over 200 PDC events held around the world.

During the keynote address, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Server and Tools Business President Bob Muglia showed how the company is advancing the Microsoft platform, spanning the PC, phone and cloud. Microsoft specifically highlighted the momentum of Windows Azure, Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 and Windows Phone 7 and the opportunity for developers today and in the future.

“Microsoft is combining the power and reach of the cloud with both Web and local device experiences,” Ballmer said. “There has never been a better time for developers to bet on Microsoft.”

Customer Momentum:

Since the commercial availability of Windows Azure was announced earlier this year, Microsoft has seen strong growth with close to 20,000 applications to date. Demonstrating its RenderMan application during the keynote address, Pixar Animation Studios showed how it intends to use Windows Azure to more efficiently manage compute cycles by scaling as needed, helping improve project performance and eliminate costly back-end infrastructure.

NVoicePay, a key technology partner of Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), is using Windows Azure and SQL Azure to provide medium-sized companies with the ability to pay invoices electronically and via a desktop PC or a mobile device.

“Building a mission-critical B2B payment network would have been nearly impossible without the low-cost, pay-as-you-go access of the Windows Azure platform,” said Karla Friede, chief executive officer of NVoicePay. “We could not have built our network at this speed and cost without it.”

Microsoft also highlighted that over 70 partners — including Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon.com — representing more than two-thirds of active Web traffic are building on the capabilities in Internet Explorer 9 and HTML5. Since the launch of Internet Explorer 9 beta in September, there have been more than 10 million downloads, making it the fastest-adopted version of an Internet Explorer beta ever. The company also highlighted a growing list of companies that are betting on Windows Phone 7, including PopCap Games Inc., Intuit Inc., Amazon.com and Facebook. Further, Microsoft announced that the Windows Phone Marketplace will launch with more than 1,000 quality games and applications that extend the unique user interface and functionality of Windows Phone 7. The Windows Phone Marketplace will be open for application submission on Nov. 3.

The Most Comprehensive Operating System for Platform as a Service: Windows Azure:

With the capabilities in Windows Azure, Muglia showed how developers can apply their existing skills to build new types of business applications, consumer Web applications and commercial ISV offerings.

“Only Windows Azure delivers general-purpose PaaS, which gives developers the breadth of services needed to allow them to focus on their applications