> I was a little shocked that they didn't release a Qt compatibility layer for Windows Phone
Windows Phone 7, which was current at the time of the switch, was managed-code only (i.e. .NET). There was no way to port Qt to it and no way to leverage any experience that developers for their existing platforms already had. That was one reason the switch was so dramatic.
WP 7.5 let you run some native code if you tried hard enough. Manufacturer signing gave more permissions than developer signing, so it might have been possible? I'm not sure if native code (such as it was) was an addition to 7.5 or part of 7, though.
One thing -
> I was a little shocked that they didn't release a Qt compatibility layer for Windows Phone
Windows Phone 7, which was current at the time of the switch, was managed-code only (i.e. .NET). There was no way to port Qt to it and no way to leverage any experience that developers for their existing platforms already had. That was one reason the switch was so dramatic.