The dominating force over the last few years have clearly been Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems with RIM’s OS trailing behind in 3rd place.  That being said, Microsoft’s focused effort to draw developers into its platform looks like it’s finally paying off.

Windows Phone is being billed as a phone that just works and works well. Whether these efforts will be enough to ensure the success of the platform is yet to be seen. Below are 6 of the top reasons developers are keeping a close eye on the Windows Phone OS and the opportunities they represent.

1 – Ease of Development

One of the WP’s secret weapons is ease of development. Call it developer friendly. Michael Dell was among the first to state that his company’s engineers are finding it easier to develop Windows Phone Smartphones than they are handsets using Android.

There are various reason why development why WP is fairly simple, one of the reasons being WP compiles very quickly because it uses C#. So the iteration times are fast. On the other hand, Objective-C and C++ compile very slowly by comparison.

2 – Sleek and Sexy UI

A few years ago, the Windows Phone design team had a shining and defining Ah-Ha moment. By focusing their attention away from the PC and mobile environment, they looked at real world examples of user interfaces at what they considered to be the best examples of design work, from Josef Müller-Brockmann and other pioneers of the International Style. This research was what lead to the now established Metro UI.

3 – Selection of Devices

Much like Android based mobiled devices; the Windows Phone OS comes in various colors and flavors to please just about any personal taste.

In February this year, Microsoft and Nokia announced a partnership that sees Symbian being dropped as the main OS on the Nokia key devices, in favour of Windows Phone. The event to unveil this news was held a short while before Mobile Wold Congress in Barcelona, as not to overshadow Europe’s largest mobile phone trade show – which launches a good deal of the years’ handsets. Nokia’s Windows Phone flagship device is the Nokia Lumia 800.

4 – Limited App Competition

A year after its launch, the Windows Phone marketplace is showing great progress, with a slew of free and paid applications growing monthly. The Windows Phone Marketplace currently boast 40K and is expected to hit 50K by January. Additional developers are continuously jumping on board to introduce their apps to Windows Phone owners. However, when compared to Apple’s App Store, it’s still  small potatoes.

According to a Distrimo report, developers have not yet taken advantage of the new countries that became accessible with the 7.5 Mango update, or that developers have not updated their pre-Mango applications in order to make those applications available in all 35 countries.

For WP Developers, time is of the essence. The Windows Phone Marketplace is now the fifth-largest OS app store, says Distimo, behind those of Apple, Google, Nokia and RIM. For the most part, there’s a huge opportunity to develop a defining app for this new OS, due to limited competing apps.

5 – Microsoft’s Enthusiasm

It’s crystal clear that Microsoft’s in it for the long haul. They’ve made it evident with their app acceleration events and they’ve been vocal about it at industry events. On the flipside, developers have also caught MSFT enthusiasm fever.

When asked why developers are more interested in Windows Phone now than a year ago, a plurality (48%) said it was the Microsoft/Nokia partnership. Nokia also received high marks from its new Lumia Windows Phone smartphone announcement last month, with 28% of developers saying they are ‘very interested’ in developing for the device.

6 – The (IT) Factor

Despite Microsoft’s ups and downs, The Windows Phone OS is off on a running start. To maintain the momentum, Microsoft needs to ensure that WP enabled devices are launched globally as well as get more hardware in the hands of developers, to capitalize on the hype surrounding it. Being the new cool kid on the block has its advantages, but it’s certainly time to back it up by delivering on the promise that’s built up over the last year.