Visual Studio 2012 won't let me debug my first app for WP8

[SuperJMN]

Hello community! I'm a full time developer for WPF (Windows Desktop) and I wanted to jump over Windows Phone 8.

I downloaded the SDK and created my first test app (from a template).

The problem: I cannot run/debug the app in any way:
* No emulator available (no Hyper-V)
* My Lumia 920 conveniently connected and unlocked, but it says I have to unlock my device for development.

If understand it well, Microsoft charges a subscription in order to publish apps, but… for developing them, too?

This is a total letdown for me. In the past I debugged and deployed Windows Mobile apps freely. What's the deal? Am I wrong? I just want to learn by now, I don't have the knowledge to make a fully-fledged app, so what's the benefit of not allowing to debug for newbie WP8 devs like me? It's nothing but an obstacle, IMHO.

Please, help me.
Thanks!

 

[The Last Byte]

When it says "unlocked", you know it has to be developer unlocked right? This is done at dev.windowsphone.com and you basically set it up via the Windows Phone Developer Registration Program installed with Visual Studio 2012.

You technically do not need to have a dev account if you have a friend in the Windows Phone developer business. Ask them to kindly unlock it.

It was supposed be the fact that development was done via the emulator for free, but the technical requirements have bumped up to be i3+ now.