The answer to the title’s question is simple.  It never strikes the same place twice.  So why am I even bringing this up?  Because you’ve got untold opportunity on the horizon, and you’re likely squandering it.

I want to start with a history lesson.  Think back to the mindset of the California Gold Rush in the 1840’s.  There were a few brave souls that weathered the elements, terrain, and wildlife of North America to make it to the west coast in search of untold riches.  Let’s call one of them Bill.   I’m sure that as he was packing up his gear, he had friends (let’s call him Tony) scoffing at him, saying things like, “You’re crazy.  Send me a letter if you find anything, and maybe I’d consider coming out there too.”

So Bill headed west, and he found a fortune.  And to his word, he sent a letter back to his friend, Tony, back home: “Found gold.  Loads of it.  But there’s so many people here now, I wouldn’t bother coming.  Sorry about your luck.”

Bill is a risk-taker.  He carted himself (and probably his family) across the country.  He might have even lost someone to dysentery.  The opportunity I want to discuss with you involves NONE of these risks, I promise.

My opportunity relates to Windows Phone applications.  You’ve likely had thoughts similar to Tony.  “Why would I spend my time to write an application, when I don’t even know if I’ll make any money doing so?”  The Bills of the world are already WAY ahead of you.  They’ve already downloaded the free beta development tools.  They’ve already built a simple Twitter client, just to see how easy it is.  They’re the ones chasing the next gold rush.

Imagine being the next guy to make a million dollars on an app that makes crude noises.  All you have to do is take that chance.  And it’s a tiny chance at that.  All you have to do is take your existing development skills, apply them to something you need your phone to do today (that it currently doesn’t do), and voila, you’ve got a significant opportunity to profit from that idea.  There’s no chance of dysentery on this road (unless you’re doing it wrong.)

But you’ve got to do it now.  You don’t want to be the guy with the 15^th flashlight app.  He’s still waiting for his check to arrive.

If you've been paying attention to my tweetstream today, you've noticed that there are a bunch of Windows Phone 7 Bootcamp events coming up.  I'm going to aggregate the list of events I'm aware of here, but feel free to retweet/repost/outright copy this list to share with your colleagues and friends.  These events will require you to bring a laptop, and having the tools installed before you get there will only make your life easier.  You can find them at http://bit.ly/8XcWaO.

This is not a final list of events.  We will be holding Windows Phone 7 Bootcamp events throughout the next 12 months.  Please let me know if you do not see your city listed here, and would like to see an event.  I can't make any promises, but I'll do what I can to help.

Please keep in mind that these events will be small.  Most will have less than 50 people.  Register as soon as you can.

• July 27, 2010 - Nashville, TN  http://bit.ly/cRg9jS
• July 29, 2010 - Cincinnati, OH  http://bit.ly/993dF4
• August 3, 2010 - Minneapolis, MN  http://bit.ly/bwj5ED
• August 4, 2010 - Dallas, TX  http://bit.ly/ayGZCL
• August 5, 2010 - Indianapolis, IN  http://bit.ly/djyjil
• August 24, 2010 - Atlanta, GA  http://bit.ly/bEuNWC
• August 24, 2010 - Waltham, MA  http://bit.ly/9R08JT
• August 31, 2010 - Tampa, FL  http://bit.ly/9A4e2S
• September 2, 2010 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL  http://bit.ly/bEuNWC
• September 7, 2010 - Columbus, OH  http://bit.ly/aeGKMB
• September 7, 2010 - New York, NY  http://bit.ly/cmqAE2
• September 8, 2010 - Raleigh, NC  http://bit.ly/cD3ivX
• September 14, 2010 - Waukesha, WI  http://bit.ly/bzkJEn
• September 14, 2010 - Grand Rapids, MI  http://bit.ly/a9bCsr
• September 15, 2010 - Little Rock, AR  http://bit.ly/cttDu5
• September 15, 2010 - Cleveland, OH  http://bit.ly/a341DG
• September 16, 2010 - St. Louis, MO  http://bit.ly/9Z8WKQ
• September 21, 2010 - Downers Grove, IL  http://bit.ly/cQKE3w
• September 21, 2010 - Southfield, MI  http://bit.ly/cdmdp3
• September 21, 2010 - Chevy Chase, MD  http://bit.ly/btf718
• September 21, 2010 - Charlotte, NC  http://bit.ly/aOSdNM
• September 22, 2010 - Austin, TX  http://bit.ly/dw4ejB
• September 22, 2010 - Philadelphia, PA  http://bit.ly/ddCGw5
• September 23, 2010 - Chicago, IL  http://bit.ly/c5ccbA
• September 23, 2010 - Des Moines, IA  http://bit.ly/9apTCY
• September 28, 2010 - Tulsa, OK  http://bit.ly/cXZKs9
• September 28, 2010 - Pittsburgh, PA  http://bit.ly/d5KDGi
• September 29, 2010 - Memphis, TN  http://bit.ly/bTv50W
• September 30, 2010 - Houston, TX  http://bit.ly/9vpiVk
• September 30, 2010 - Knoxville, TN  http://bit.ly/dcCliO
• September 30, 2010 - Farmington, CT  http://bit.ly/auCvEz

Last night, I had an opportunity to attend a cool event here in Columbus, OH called Mobile Monday.  At least, I thought it was going to be cool.  In my mind, I was attending an event that would be bringing the great minds of the mobile industry in Columbus to one location, where we could network, talk about apps we were working on, and generally have a spirit of openness, regardless of platform.  What I encountered instead was an almost poisonous hostility towards my affiliation with Microsoft, and a childlike mocking (insert a Nelson Muntz finger pointing and "Ha, ha!" here.) of my belief that Windows Phone 7 will see any success whatsoever.

To be completely honest, I was disappointed.  Not in the event, mind you, the event was great.  Free food, loads of people, and tons of phones (one guy had 7 working phones, with usage plans!)

I have a complete respect for the iPhone and Android devices.  I'm in awe of what people are capable of making them do.  They are absolutely great platforms for writing new software.  They are the reason that Microsoft has been working so hard to right the ship that was Windows Mobile.  We've admitted our shortcomings there, and have gone back to the drawing board.  Windows Phone 7 is our response to that criticism.

So I reach out to you, dear reader, to ask a question.  What do you think of Windows Phone 7?  I'm not asking if you'll get one (though I'm curious), but have you investigated it?  Have you looked at how easy it is to build an app?  Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

I am a software developer.  Not only do I write code while at work, but I write it when I'm not at work too.  I'm currently spending my free time writing apps for this new phone platform.  It has absolutely nothing to do with my affiliation with Microsoft.  It has everything to do with opportunity.

Imagine back a few years to when the iPhone came out.  Imagine that Apple had made a bold announcement that the App Store will be available in 6 months, and this concept is going to be HUGE.  You'll be able to sell an application for a dollar, and sell millions of them (even if all they do is fart.)  Would you have built an application?  Just on the chance it could pay off big?  I would have.

But they didn't make that announcement, and it has taken some companies and developers 3+ years to realize that this platform abounds in opportunity.  Android's only been out for 18 months, and there's still people that feel iPhone is the only platform they care to develop for.

Windows Phone 7 presents you with that opportunity.  It presents an environment where you KNOW people are going to buy these phones, and you know people are going to be super-hungry for cool apps to put on those phones.  I am in the process of writing 4 different apps for this platform.  I'm going to have them in the Marketplace on the day it launches.  And when people start using their brand-new phones, it MY apps that they're going to buy.

What's holding you back?

If I've sparked your interest about this stuff, download the free tools at http://developer.windowsphone.com.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to get started.

So I started writing a few apps for Windows Phone 7 in Silverlight.  As most my readers know (some regrettably, I'm sure), I'm a fan of Silverlight.  I don't believe it's the end-all of development platforms, but for the purposes it serves, I really enjoy writing software in Silverlight.  I was recently appointed as a Windows Phone Champion at Microsoft, and that means I'm going to be spending a good amount of time here talking about software development related to Silverlight, web services, and the Windows Phone tools.

So, having said that, I also want to announce that I'm bringing back my "post-a-day" series later this year.  September will have a brand-new 30 Days of Silverlight, updated for Silverlight 4.  November will be all about the 30 Days of Windows Phone 7. (Yes, I just committed to 60 posts before the end of the year.  I'm an idiot.)

If you haven't already, go over to http://developer.windowsphone.com to download the tools for Windows Phone 7.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how easy creating an app can be.