If you have a new mobile operating system that you want developers to work with, one would have presumed that the developer tools for the platform would allow access to everything said new platform offered; however it appears this is not the case with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.
According to an article over on Pocket Now by Chris Oldroyd, and by way of Fortune, apparently Microsoft has now confirmed that at the moment 3rd-party developers do not have access to video camera functionality in their Windows Phone 7.
Word is Microsoft omitted video camera access from the developer tools and thus 3rd-party developers can only gain access to the camera to use for sample picture taking, and thus blocks development of any app which requires access to the Windows Phone 7 video camera.
Denial of access to the video camera API in Windows Phone 7 has also been confirmed by 3rd-party developer Fring, which means the omission is preventing Fring from porting their voice and video chat software to the Windows Phone 7 platform.
So there you have it for now anyway Windows Phone 7 will not support 3rd-party video chat, enhanced video apps or even augmented reality until such times as Microsoft updates their WP7 SDK.