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[msmobiles.com_robot]

Professional developers no longer can count on Apple. Opportunity for Windows Mobile developers and for the upcoming "Skymarket" - Windows Mobile application store!

Vincent from Makayama writes to us in an answ...

Read more at http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/7869.html

[Hobo]

Couldn't agree more. A WM app store with one click purchasing AND a trial mechanism would give us WM developers a chance. The WM market will go the $1 - $5 app route too. If you write original quality apps then I'm sure your work will get noticed and you'll make a good income at this price point.

[mumbo]

@Hobo
Yes but if it ends up like the Apple app store, then it's just the same and the same problems arise. Popularity breeds... well, popularity. The secret surely is to get some better filters in place to refine the choice of app you need. I agree with the OP that apple are a right royal pain but it's the best experience for marketing your apps to date.

I have two apps in the Apple store and hit no such limitation(ie I didn't use any undocumented api calls - it was clearly stated not to do so) and verification took all of 9 days since when I've made enough to pay for the Mac I bought to do the development. Not huge money but enough to be encouraging.

Now, what I see as the real problem, apart from marketing your apps, is the plethora of devices that I have to code for and the even more restrictive practices of the carriers which may or may not cripple any app I create for WM devices. At least with the iPhone, I only have to develop for the one device or two actually since my apps work on the iPod Touch in exactly the same way.

Not trying to pour cold water on MS efforts, but something needs to be done to address the 'too much choice' problem. Just an excellent buying experience will not change anything.

my 2c

[jameskatt]

This sounds like sour grapes.

The Apple App store is extremely popular. There are more downloads at the App store than all of Windows Mobile through the years combined.

Popularity results in thousands and thousands of new applications.

Your application can be lost among them.

However, there is a way around this: Do additional marketing from your own website. This can link to the App Store to download the application.

The "drive" to lower prices is only in your head. It is like people following Microsoft like lemmings.

Clearly, there is movement toward $9.99 as a standard price for well-made applications.

Further, there is a new group of applications - such as medical applications - priced between $49.99 to $200+.

These applications are WELL WORTH their price. For example, there is a CPT + ICD application for $29.00. This is cheap compared to the $200 price of getting books on CPT and ICD. AND, this application is run by a subscription model - where it expires after 1 year.

Competition in life is always cutthroat, dog-eat-dog.

You have sour grapes - and a bad attitude as a developer.

Microsoft Mobile sucks. It has been open for a long time. But the UI sucks. The performance sucks. And it is becoming less popular all the time, particularly with strong competition from the iPhone, RIM, and Android.

As always, for developers:
1. Build your application the best you can.
2. Pay attention to the design.
3. Pay attention to your customers.
4. Market your application. Apple and anyone else won't do this for you, app store or not.
5. Price your application what it is worth.

If people don't buy your application, then realize that your app sucks.
Move on or build it better.

[Stoic33]

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft Executes the Sky-Market store from a purely business point of view.. I think Sky-Market could be a dual edge sword, for Microsoft it could turn out to be a massive success or a huge flop!

The main problem with a WM app-store is inconsistency, unlike WM the iPhone adopts the hugely successful XBox, Wii, PS3 Game Console approach, in which the iPhone provides a common platform, with a singular specification, cpu speed, common input (touch, accelerometers, gps) and a common screen resolution that make developing for the iPhone as simple as developing for a game console, with all the benefits of Consoles “write-once-run-across-all” capabilities.

Microsoft is already facing an uphill battle with their current Smartphone Vs PocketPC platforms, that has already fractured the WM software market e.g. tomtom (sat nav), apps and games.

To pull off Sky-Market, Microsoft might have to up their game with WM7 (unite its platforms) and ensure issues such as screen resolutions, various input techniques and minimum capabilities (speed/graphics/GPUs/Silverlight/Open GLES support .etc) are all properly addressed.

A Microsoft/Nvidia WinMo phone could simplify this, but might not be the right way forward..

[kdarling]

Some thoughts...

Microsoft specified platform specifics for a long time. Buttons, voice i/o, etc. However, it's never enough, is it? For Apple either. People want non-standard additions all the time, especially different screen resolutions.

Judging from the iPhone (and touch) forums, millions of apps are downloaded but then removed a few days later. Basically, there are a lot of owners who've never had a smartphone before, and downloading just fascinates them.

The App Store really does have a half dozen clones of just about any app you can think of.

Online magazines recommend only about 20 apps as must-haves.

WM will have Silverlight. Apple already has it for their Macs. Would not be surprised if it became a big mobile programming environment.

[scoobydooby]

I agree 100% with Vincent.

The iPhone app store is indeed a huge mess. Yes, they have 10k apps, but it is nearly impossible to find what you are looking for. There are often 30 or 40 apps that do the same thing, and the only thing you can go on is on the reviews. But when some people are paying reviewers for a good review, it's hard to trust what is being published.

There are only a handful of KILLER apps for the iPhone/iPod touch, the vast majority is utterly useless. A store with 10k apps is great, but when so much of it is nothing but crap, it doesn't serve any purpose.

I've been quite impressed with the Android marketplace, even though it still lacks a payment system, and that the commenters are quite horrible.

[kdarling]

And still no Slingbox. No turn by turn navigation. No MMS yet. No video app. No official today-screen abilities.

I don't need 10,000 apps. I just need some good ones like the above.

Without the wonderful Safari browser, the iPhone would be pretty much nothing but an iPod phone.

[alcedes]