Developers of applications which make use of a smartphone’s integrated video camera are being hampered in their attempts to develop products for Microsoft’s fledgling Windows Phone 7 (WP7) platform due to the lack of suitable APIs, according to Fortune. High profile developers Fring and Layar are among the companies affected by the decision, with both of these companies already offering products for competing platforms including Android and Apple’s iOS.  According to the report, Microsoft did not dispute the fact that at the moment developers are unable to take full advantage of the camera features, with Fring arguing that “when the cards are held too tight, it cramps our style and we can’t deliver the value that consumers want and expect from smartphones.”

At the moment, Windows Phone 7 developers can write apps which use the camera to capture still images, but not video. However, this means that customers are not provided with access to popular mobile apps including Layar’s augmented reality browser and Fring’s mobile messaging software, and other apps which use the device camera for video will also be impacted. With Windows Phone 7 still being very early in its lifecycle, it is certainly possible that the camera APIs will be made available in the near future, as the developer options are opened further – Microsoft has already acknowledged that its app store approvals process is not yet up to speed.

Despite the issues with the camera, and following earlier reports that only 1,000 apps will be available for WP7 devices at the time of their imminent US launch, a number of companies have recently announced products for the platform. Shazam is offering a version of its music track identification software; Telmap has released what it describes as the “first search, mapping and navigation solution” for the OS; Slingbox is to offer a version of its placeshifting app for WP7; and Cardmobili, winner of Vodafone’s Mobile Clicks 2010 competition, is offering a version of its loyalty card app.