Windows Phone 7 - Wow. Wait... What?

Wow.
That's what I have to say about Windows Phone 7 - and I haven't actually touched one for real yet. So why would I say that?
I Am ...
Most of you know me to be heavily involved in the SQL Server Integration Services community, and would therefore logically assume that I must spend a significant amount of my "day job" working with SSIS. You'd be incorrect.
At present, I'm mostly occupied with triaging internal business applications (significantly composed of Access applications) while trying to build a Data Warehouse that hopefully replaces most of them. Part of that warehouse building does involve SSIS - but it also involves the rest of the Microsoft BI stack.
My background is more in plain-old coding - C# for the last few years, VB before that. The mix of "coder" and SSIS helps explain why I'm so involved in custom extensions to integration services, and why I built a few of my own.
But I Am Not ...
A web developer.  Most certainly not. I've never made a web app in my life, and am confused by such simple things as that query string on URIs, POSTs, "requests" and "responses."  I think Ajax is a footy club somewhere in Europe.  And yet I am significantly impressed with Microsoft's job (to date) on Windows Phone 7.
I still haven't answered the question yet, have I?
I'm Impressed Because ...
I was able to build a very useful app - useful for me, that is - in under 40 hours. The developer tools, samples, extensions, ... everything Microsoft and the WP7 community had put together let me do that. Sure, I had problems that I had to hunt down on the 'net - but I was able to EVERYTHING I wanted to do without beating my head to a pulp.  (I definitely can't say that about developing for SSIS.)  That includes:

• Using the stunning "panorama" control
• Handling touch input
• Page transition animations
• Handling themes
• Internet access
• Automatic data binding (automatic screen redraws)
• Finding (and using) my location
• Using Bing maps (for a map)
• Using Bing maps routing service (for distance and drive-time)
• On-device storage
• Handling "tombstoning" and "waking up" (due to no background processing)
• Charting

The (Almost) End Result

What's my app? It's really only useful to people who live near me, in beautiful British Columbia.  I might get it in the Marketplace (I'm trying) - but even if I don't, I'll sideload it onto my device... whenever they get here... sigh.

Why Did I Spend That 40 Hours?

First, because building the app was addictive.  I'd put together a simple - yet beautiful - panorama with live data in a couple hours.  I felt like I was challenging the WP7 dev/tools team at every turn with a dare... "Oh yeah?  What if I wanted to do this?  That can't be easy..." but found out it was.  Seriously.  Cut & paste XAML with a little intellisense trial and error did the trick.
But underlying that geeky hacker exploration was the simple desire to accomplish a goal: not having to surf ten pages on the the BC Ferries website to get the information I wanted.  I found I could make an app to do exactly the thing that Microsoft is touting WP7 as - the phone that "gets you in and out" quick, so you don't fall into an open manhole:

Gotta love that commercial (and yes - they should have had an open manhole).  This next one's even better - are you one of "those people"?  (I just might be...  don't ask the wife...)

:) Really?