Access to privileged SMS APIs - for the common (wo)man

Question

(I see SMS related queries here, so hopefully this is an OK forum to post this in.)

Hello:

I am an Android developer with a moderately popular SMS-forwarding app (www.bitly.com/phoneleash). A lot of my users have asked about a similar app for Windows 8. A brief look at the API docs indicated SMS related classes so I went off and acquired a Lumia. Maybe too hastily for I am now finding out about these APIs being privileged and available to mobile operators only.

I don't imagine being able to call AT&T and ask for them to provide me with their APIs. Is the upshot of this that only the AT&Ts and Verizons of this world (or those commissioned by them) can build such apps? Thats seems awfully limiting considering the variety of apps possible around SMS. So I am hopeful I am reading this incorrectly.

Is there a way to at least create such apps for test and demonstration (using real SMS messages on a real network)? Perhaps with a side-loaded self-signed certificate giving access to these APIs?

Thank you for your guidance

Regards

PVS

pvs a-t gearandroid d-o-t c-o-m

Dev for PhoneLeash on Google Play

---

PVS Dev for PhoneLeash on Google Play