Does anyone know if it is possible to load a windows phone 7 XAP file into the emulator without the solution or source files? In other words, can I send somebody just a XAP file
Yes it can be deployed on any emulator.
And here the way to do it
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsphone7series/thread/023d5f73-0528-47ee-add4-9f57f7d29815
Regards