[TrophyNostalgia]

Recently I've found a lot of discussions and comments have come up lately with some situations concerning Microsoft's and developer's decisions on how purchasing applications works within the Microsoft Store ecosystem. Particularly, some have voiced concern over the fact that an app I purchased for Windows Phone 7, needs to be re-purchased for Windows Phone 8. Similarly others have voiced frustration that an app purchased for Windows Phone needs to be separately purchased for the Windows 8 Operating System. (A prime example of this situation would be the recently released Fruit Ninja game app which was updated for Windows Phone 8 at the price of 99 cents [see the following WPcentral article: Fruit Ninja slashes its way to Windows Phone 8 on Xbox, though previous owners will have to buy again | Windows Phone Central ])

The Microsoft Store seems to have some sticky situations rising to the surface as of late and I would like to hear your opinion and start a discussion on the situation of apps in the Microsoft ecosystem:

1. Should a user be forced to re-purchase an app that they have already purchased for a previous generation device (ie WP7 vs WP8)?
   On a separate note, should an app (ie Halo: Spartan Assault or etc...) be playable on Windows 8 OS if it has already been purchased for the Windows Phone?
   
   
2. Does this not cause issues if say an app is updated with an overhaul or an HD remake, should the developer be able to establish this as a separate app, or should previous clients be reimbursed for having to pay again for a "new" app?
   
   
3. What is your thoughts on Xbox Live games having "duplicate" achievements? For example, now having two versions of Fruit Ninja, "duplicate" entries for two separate Fruit Ninja apps appear under my gamer tag. Is this creating a mess of Microsoft's Xbox Live achievement system?
   
   
4. Do you think in the future this is a situation Microsoft is looking at to remedy (have a single ecosystem where one app translates across all Microsoft devices). Is this system currently a mess or is there any merit to the current state of the Microsoft Marketplace?
   
   
5. Will Microsoft always be the "underdog" in app selection or how has Microsoft's Marketplace position in the eyes of consumers and developers changed (if at all)?

[Laura Knotek]

Re: #1 and #3, I only use free games for that reason. I'm not going to spend money twice on a game, and I have no use for games that do not offer integrated achievements.

If I had an iPad and an iPhone, I wouldn't have to pay twice for the same game.

[Xpider_MX]

Particularly, some have voiced concern over the fact that an app I purchased for Windows Phone 7, needs to be re-purchased for Windows Phone 8

This is not true. I have redownloaded 99% of my WP7 apps in WP8.

[James8561]

developing for windows phone 8 and windows 8 is vastly different and requiring separate resources so no, customers should NOT be able to just buy an app on their phone and gets it on their desktop.

[Laura Knotek]

developing for windows phone 8 and windows 8 is vastly different and requiring separate resources so no, customers should NOT be able to just buy an app on their phone and gets it on their desktop.

What about RT? I don't own one; however, I could see both Windows Phone and RT selling better if the same games could be purchased once and used on both devices. If people have a choice of iPhone/iPad combination or WP/RT combination, they might gravitate toward the Apple products if they are able to use the same apps without needing to pay twice.

[WanderingTraveler]

What about RT? I don't own one; however, I could see both Windows Phone and RT selling better if the same games could be purchased once and used on both devices. If people have a choice of iPhone/iPad combination or WP/RT combination, they might gravitate toward the Apple products if they are able to use the same apps without needing to pay twice.

The problem here is that devs have to work twice as hard to make suitable apps. For example, the 1366*768 and 1920*1020 screen resolutions have a 2:1 and 16:9 aspect ratio,respectively and are commonly found on computers and tablets, where high PPI isn't always important. On the other hand, the WVGA (800*480), WXGA (1280*768) resolutions are particularly important for Windows Phone and are pegged at the 15:9 aspect ratio. In addition, the PPI found on WP (the lowest so far is ~193 PPI on the HTC TITAN 2 and Lumia 625) are mostly higher than those found on Win8 and WinRT devices, where high PPIs already make the desktop hard to navigate. This difference will only grow with the introduction of 1080p Windows Phones.
Also, there's the general preference for non-iPad tablet users to prefer landscape instead of portrait, and so on.

[Keith Wallace]

What about RT? I don't own one; however, I could see both Windows Phone and RT selling better if the same games could be purchased once and used on both devices. If people have a choice of iPhone/iPad combination or WP/RT combination, they might gravitate toward the Apple products if they are able to use the same apps without needing to pay twice.

Not really a workable solution here. Windows RT shares a marketplace with Windows 8. you'd still have the issue of single-purchase apps on Windows 8, as there isn't any way that I've heard of to distinguish between RT and full 8. I get the single-purchase system's appeal to folks (who wants to pay $15 for a game on a phone, just to play it on a PC or tablet?). However, it's also tough to convince developers to make games if their revenue will be halved. Right now, the per-user profitability on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 is probably one of the few advantages the platform offers developers over the competition.

[TrophyNostalgia]

Not really a workable solution here. Windows RT shares a marketplace with Windows 8. you'd still have the issue of single-purchase apps on Windows 8, as there isn't any way that I've heard of to distinguish between RT and full 8. I get the single-purchase system's appeal to folks (who wants to pay $15 for a game on a phone, just to play it on a PC or tablet?). However, it's also tough to convince developers to make games if their revenue will be halved. Right now, the per-user profitability on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 is probably one of the few advantages the platform offers developers over the competition.

Yeah there seems to be no solution in sight, at least for the life of Windows 8 on phones and computers. I'm afraid we may have to wait until Windows "9" before Microsoft's ecosystem becomes unified.

[TechFreak1]

Well this is mixed issue, as people have pointed out above. You need more resources to develop wp8 / win8 apps. For Wp8 you must have windows 8 as hyper v is a must and last i recall u need to have a slat enabled processor to use hyper v (correct me if I'm wrong). Also given the difference in screen size and resolution, you still need to adjust the controls appropriate for each device. The other issue is the uninformed public who are not aware of the technical requirements or changes under the hood. As on the face of it an app may still look similar on different devices. This can only be rectified if MS can make it as simple as changing a setting on the compiler therefore less labour time per port and devs adopt the practise of charging once per app install on either version of the o/s - desktop or mobile (I dont c that happening any time soon). Hopefully with WP 8.1 we will see the shared kernal become more and more integrated between w8, rt, wp8 and x1.