Confessions of an iOS app developer - I'm moving my efforts to WP8 (long)

[11B1P]

Welcome aboard. I too am glad to see a new developer here. I'm not much of a sports fan, but I appreciate your efforts at helping push our platform ahead. I too came from webOS and loved it. This is the closest to it and I see WP having a better multi-platform. I look forward to hearing your progress updates.

Are you a "pleasure developer" or is this a full-time job for you?

 

[Ebaneeezor]

Welcome to WP8 thanks for making the switch - I only use Fantasy apps when it comes to sports, unless your making/going to eventually make a NHL app either way, Ill buy whatever you put up to support you. (Headed to your site now to see if there is a sign up for email alerts when you update apps/app status)

thanks again

 

[bamagrad03]

Welcome aboard. I too am glad to see a new developer here. I'm not much of a sports fan, but I appreciate your efforts at helping push our platform ahead. I too came from webOS and loved it. This is the closest to it and I see WP having a better multi-platform. I look forward to hearing your progress updates.

Are you a "pleasure developer" or is this a full-time job for you?

I currently do have an 8-5 gig as a software developer. I've been working with the .net platform and Microsoft stuff since the late 90s. But as blatantly capitalist as it may seem - I build apps that I like, but will certainly make money and not just for fun. I like bringing ideas to market that fill a void and are worth my efforts. I could just do contract work 20-30 hours a week, but I like the idea of unlimited potential and sort of controlling my own destiny.

App development satiates my entrepreneurial spirit while being flexible enough that I don't have to quit my job to do it. Before I locked horns with Apple and tasted their iron fist ruling, I was well on my way to being able to quit my job and do app stuff full time if I wanted. But in today's economy, that's a pretty scary move.

 

[bamagrad03]

Welcome to WP8 thanks for making the switch - I only use Fantasy apps when it comes to sports, unless your making/going to eventually make a NHL app either way, Ill buy whatever you put up to support you. (Headed to your site now to see if there is a sign up for email alerts when you update apps/app status)

thanks again

Thanks for the support! I don't plan on doing a fantasy app, mainly because I crossed paths a few times with the guy who does the #1 fantasy app on iOS - Fantasy Monster. He ported over his app this year to WP, and I think he experienced a few bumps getting it perfect. But he releases updates fast and always puts out a good product. He's also a really great guy and offered me advice whenever I needed.

So I won't be stepping on his toes in the WP8 world. There's plenty of other places for me to get a piece of the pie.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I went through this last year with the NFL strike/lockout. I had an NFL scores app that I had put a good bit of time into. And I kept thinking, these jerks are complaining about not making enough money and they have NO IDEA how many little guys like me are really getting shafted by their greed.

Thankfully it all worked out. But as a sports fan first, and an app developer second, the NHL lockout really saddens me. That sport took a huge step back after their last strike/lockout. I'm not sure they can recover if another season is lost.

Sorry for the sidebar.

I hear you! I do follow the NFL and NBA. It's all the other folks who get hurt when there's a strike: restaurant/bar employees, concession workers, parking lot people, app developers, etc.

It's not much of a loss for the owners and players as it is for everyone else. Not to mention young kids who might never take a liking to sports because they see it as a cut-throat business, not fun family experience.

 

[brmiller1976]

Wow! Welcome, and I hope you have many thousands of eager app buyers.

 

[o4liberty]

For WP 8 to make any ground they need a better selection to satisfy the broad spectrum of users.

 

[iPwnza]

Fanasty monster is having issues right now, it's at two stars and the login wont work, lol...

 

[bamagrad03]

For WP 8 to make any ground they need a better selection to satisfy the broad spectrum of users.

And I think you'll see it happen. Honestly, developers just haven't been given enough that would have them take the Windows Phone platform seriously. But I'll tell you, we see this thing as a sleeping giant. And there was a massive gold rush to iOS and Android. The same is going to happen with WP.

The key here is just how much easier it is to get a product to market with the .net platform. Hundreds of thousands of developers work in it every day. Instead of figuring out a proprietary development environment and an almost proprietary language like objective C, they can simple fire up a new project in the same environment they do their daily work. That sounds like a small thing, but it's really huge.

I've stayed in the sports area because it was a corner of the iOS market that was vastly underserved. But I've got a couple of productivity apps that I'll make for WP right after I finish my current project. Because I can build apps faster, I'm much more likely to take a risk on building out an idea than I would have been before. Because there's so much less opportunity cost at play.

Let me ask you all this - what do you think goes through a developer's mind when he reads that the 920 is sold out everywhere?

 

[iPwnza]

@Bamagrad

You are going to stay with the metro style, right? Some iOS devs like Zynga kept to iOS's style. As long as you keep metro, i'll buy all of them once they come out.

 

[bamagrad03]

@Bamagrad

You are going to stay with the metro style, right? Some iOS devs like Zynga kept to iOS's style. As long as you keep metro, i'll buy all of them once they come out.

Aside from the ease of working on the .Net platform, MetroUI is the single biggest reason I'm excited for WP. I think it's gorgeous, I think it makes for an awesome user experience.

I'm actually working with a UI expert on my next app - I designed all my old ones myself. The UI expert is a really good friend of mine and he's been chomping at the bit to do a Metro implementation.

 

[Reflexx]

If you ever do a sports app again, I'd love to see a Lakers NBA app that also has a Live Wallpaper that changes images after every game.

 

[iPwnza]

Great, currently im actually working on apps to extend the voice features in WP8, adding commands like sports scores, google search, map search, etc into speech. I was an ex-iSheep, so I needed something like siri on my phone.

 

[dtc81]

Roll Tide! Grad '04

 

[thirdsun]

How many apps that apple and android have that are really useful ? I have tried every platform except IOS and all of them including Microsoft have more useless then useful ones. "There's an App for That" is so true but in the end I am usually under 20 apps myself!

Isn't that also true for Windows Phone? Or more generally for almost everything? Quality is always rare, mediocrity always makes up the largest part of anything - be it cars, music, fabrics....or apps. However you can't deny that you have a fair share of simply great apps on iOS, despite all the crap. Currently it's much harder to find quality on the Windows Phone Store - I see a lot of apps for business and services that seem to feel they need an app everywhere without bringing any value (over their website for instance) to the table. There are always exceptions of course, like Metrotube, Rowi, Baconit, Newsspot. Nevertheless there are a lot more positive exceptions on iOS right now. That said, I'm of course aware of the fact that these are the early days for Windows Phone and these things take time - which is why I'm sticking with Windows Phone...despite being an otherwise good Apple customer ( My Macs and the iPad aren't going anywhere anytime soon)

 

[bamagrad03]

Isn't that also true for Windows Phone? Or more generally for almost everything? Quality is always rare, mediocrity always makes up the largest part of anything - be it cars, music, fabrics....or apps. However you can't deny that you have a fair share of simply great apps on iOS, despite all the crap. Currently it's much harder to find quality on the Windows Phone Store - I see a lot of apps for business and services that seem to feel they need an app everywhere without bringing any value (over their website for instance) to the table. There are always exceptions of course, like Metrotube, Rowi, Baconit, Newsspot. Nevertheless there are a lot more positive exceptions on iOS right now. That said, I'm of course aware of the fact that these are the early days for Windows Phone and these things take time - which is why I'm sticking with Windows Phone...despite being an otherwise good Apple customer ( My Macs and the iPad aren't going anywhere anytime soon)

I think this is true, for the most part. But I will offer that as the quality apps get ported, they're going to stick on more on the WP platform. In iOS, the race to the magic number of apps, without respect to quality, has made it darn near impossible to find anything that isn't currently charting in a given category.

That's why being featured is paramount to ANYTHING else in iOS. It's so full of junk that the only way to gain visibility is to have Apple basically shove your product into users' faces. And don't get me started on Android. It's the wild west over there. So many junk apps, it isn't even funny.

 

[The Darkness]

Well done, bamagad03! All the best on the WP8 endeavors - maybe you could try your hand at some rugby or cricket apps, for us ex-pats here in the US or for all around the world?

I just ordered my Lumia 920 yesterday and am waiting on its arrival. The WP8 system looks great to me and I look forward to using it and encourage many app developers out there to not neglect that platform.

 

[thirdsun]

I think this is true, for the most part. But I will offer that as the quality apps get ported, they're going to stick on more on the WP platform. In iOS, the race to the magic number of apps, without respect to quality, has made it darn near impossible to find anything that isn't currently charting in a given category.

That's why being featured is paramount to ANYTHING else in iOS. It's so full of junk that the only way to gain visibility is to have Apple basically shove your product into users' faces. And don't get me started on Android. It's the wild west over there. So many junk apps, it isn't even funny.

I can see that discoveribilty is a problem in a store that can only be filtered by a bunch of categories and best free/best paid. I always wondered why Apple wouldn't introduce more options to discover new apps - e.g. user generated tags are a good way to fine tune your search criteria, or user collections of apps, that one could follow. That said, I see the same mistakes in the wp store - of course individual apps are more recognizable right now since the total number of apps is low, but again it's only a bunch of categories followed by a list sorted by best <anything> and will also be a problem when the total number of apps is larger.

 

[jsk0703]

Sorry to hijack the thread ... just saw this on Twitter and wanted to share. Thought it might get some visibility in this thread. Free 2 day online course in WP8 development 11/28 and 11/29 : Microsoft Certified Community Connection

 

[hopmedic]

@Bamagrad

You are going to stay with the metro style, right? Some iOS devs like Zynga kept to iOS's style. As long as you keep metro, i'll buy all of them once they come out.

This is big to me. I've got a couple apps in the store, I'd do more, but I just don't have time, nor experience to get them out quickly as I'm a novice, so every app is a learning experience and therefore takes time. But I bought Words with Friends when it came out, and I was SORELY disappointed. I CANNOT STAND the user interface on that game. Take a look at the UI on Words By Post, and it is MUCH more like what a Windows Phone user expects when he is using a Windows Phone. WWF is a perfect example of why you shouldn't directly port apps as is from one platform to another - because one platform has users expecting one UI style, and another platform has users expecting another UI style. Yes, port the apps, but adapt the UI to what the native UI is of the platform you're porting to. </rant>

BTW, welcome to Windows Phone, and as others have said, THANK YOU for coming. I'm not a sports fan at all, in any way, shape, or form, so it's not likely I'll be your customer soon, but I welcome you for the furtherance of the platform.