Microsoft says Silverlight 4, the newest version of their web-based business application development platform, will be officially released to the public on April13 at the DevConnections conference in Las Vegas. All eyes are on Silverlight 4, less because of its new features, and more because it’s going to be the development platform for Windows Mobile 7 applications. Here’s the scoop.

As a full release, Silverlight 4 has far, far too many new features to list here, but here are a few of the things I’ve picked out as highlights from Microsoft’s Silverlight page.

Those are five of many, so I strongly suggest you check out that informational page for all the nitty-gritty.

If Microsoft has learned anything from watching Google, RIM, and Apple go back and forth over the last two years, it’s that these days, the apps make the phone. In that regard, they’re not just banking web application development on Silverlight, they’re hedging the future of their mobile device business on it.

We’ll be keeping an eye on Silverlight and the developers who choose to leverage it, so stay tuned to The VAR Guy.

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