Ideas on getting developers on board with wp8/what we can do.

[smerfy01]

I've been thinking about this for some time, what the windows phone community can do to help get developers over to wp8 and I've come up with an idea. Any input is appreciated, and if we could share and expand ideas I think that would be fantastic. I haven't seen this mentioned before on these boards, but if it has been then I'm not as original as I thought. Here it goes though:

1. We need to make a list of solid developers that are easy to contact AND are not developing for the wp8 platform.

2. At a set date, we vote on said developers TO contact in order of importance/popularity within the forum.

3. Once step 2 is completed, on a weekly/bi-weekly basis, we sticky a thread in here and the wp8 apps thread, reminding people to send an email to the "Developer of The Week." In the thread will be contact information for the developer and a "sample email" that each of us can base our emails around.

4. Expanding further on step 3, we create a google doc petition, with petitioners pledging to take interest in that developer's products if moved to wp8 and attach said document as a footer to every email.

I understand that this is...well...a little time-consuming...but if we can make a positive impact on the ecosystem, we should.

Some rules, however. Developers must be small-to-medium market, fill niche's, or produce quality games that aren't big-label. Instagram is a no-no. Microsoft is doing what it can to entice the bigger developers, but the smaller ones may not have a clue that there is a huge interest/userbase on our platform. This is to spread awareness/attract developers through community messaging.

What do you all think? Any suggestions? Input?

I'd really like to see us come together and make some positive change to enhance our ecosystem and our experience with our phones. Let's get some comradre going!

 

[neo158]

Throw some money at them, works for Nokia!!!

 

[smerfy01]

Throw some money at them, works for Nokia!!!

haha i was thinking what WE could do to help.

a lot of developers out there don't think that the investment into the ecosystem may be worth it at the moment, because they don't know if there will be interest in their applications.

giving them notice that 1,000 or more people are petitioning for them to come onboard so they can download/buy that app IS throwing money at them in a sense.

I'm talking about getting developers, good developers that we would like to see, interested in porting their app/writing an app for wp8 that we can then spread the word on and get them more interested in our ecosystem.

 

[Kellzea]

Its a decent idea. Personally i think that wp8 has hit the tipping point this last month. Game companies and app devs are starting to take the platform seriously. We are in the stage android was at when the g2 launched, maybe closing in on ?clair, froyo even!

Big networks are on board with both the high and low end. and the 520 is going to destroy the ?150 price point.

What im trying to say is yeah, lets make some noise, but we don't need to beg anymore. We can bang our spears against our shields and cry to the frozen air "come get some!"

 

[smerfy01]

Its a decent idea. Personally i think that wp8 has hit the tipping point this last month. Game companies and app devs are starting to take the platform seriously. We are in the stage android was at when the g2 launched, maybe closing in on ?clair, froyo even!

Big networks are on board with both the high and low end. and the 520 is going to destroy the ?150 price point.

What im trying to say is yeah, lets make some noise, but we don't need to beg anymore. We can bang our spears against our shields and cry to the frozen air "come get some!"

lol I somewhat agree with you, but the platform has been performing better than my expectations since January.

App development has slowed down. Microsoft and Nokia are doing a good job of trying to entice development, but something that can help speed up dev. adoption is us using our collective userbase (over 100k members here) to get more developers interested.

Here's an example. lbotta. Simple app, but a lot of people use it. Hell, it basically pays for itself after a bit.

I contacted them myself, as they are looking this year into bringing their app to more platforms, but they are currently NOT looking at wp8 as a platform to develop for. This is as early as 3 weeks ago.

These are the kinds of things we can target and change minds on.

 

[Kellzea]

Gotcha.

Ok, well in that case we all need to email epic games and get them to make a gears of war for wp. 343 industries and ask for halo. Email fpse dev and get a psx emulator

And finally, get on to the battlescribe guy and ask for battlescribe.

I think a big thing is backing each other up in forums and techblogs. Not ****** rants, just that when people dismiss the 920 you could post a sample photo or vid you took.

 

[smerfy01]

Gotcha.

Ok, well in that case we all need to email epic games and get them to make a gears of war for wp. 343 industries and ask for halo. Email fpse dev and get a psx emulator

And finally, get on to the battlescribe guy and ask for battlescribe.

I think a big thing is backing each other up in forums and techblogs. Not ****** rants, just that when people dismiss the 920 you could post a sample photo or vid you took.

lol I mean smaller developers. The bigger ones wouldn't care about what we try to do, but if we can entice quality app developers that we like then we are doing some good things.

What apps would you like to see that don't include big-name titles/instagram?

 

[tungha]

Developer's still not interested in our platform simply because of the lack of basic features. No basic features => not interesting for customers => developer cannot risk to jump in Windows Phone
So basically, as we've already known, Windows Phone development cycle's really SLOW, they should be hurry because iOS 7 and Android 5 is almost out there!

 

[Kellzea]

Developer's still not interested in our platform simply because of the lack of basic features. No basic features => not interesting for customers => developer cannot risk to jump in Windows Phone
So basically, as we've already known, Windows Phone development cycle's really SLOW, they should be hurry because iOS 7 and Android 5 is almost out there!

What basic functions do we lack? Name three. I'm intrigued.

 

[nessinhaw]

What basic functions do we lack? Name three. I'm intrigued.

ikr? i'm also curious about what basic features we lack lol

 

[gapost]

How about this? Download apps, even if you don't really want or need them. When big name apps like Ebay, Amazon, NBC news, etc put out an app, download it. And even better, rate it. It gets the download counts up and shows interest for the developers. If you don't like it or need it, you can easily uninstall it. I sometimes even buy an app I don't really need, just to help support a good developer.

 

[neo158]

If you all want a Starbucks app then My Starbucks Idea is the place to go to vote on it.

 

[phing77]

Cool! so here the deal:
- Subway Surfer
- Instagram (i don't care about this one but it's a big deal)
- Line with voice call
- Any.Do
- Flipboard
- 3rd party web browser: Opera, Dolphin, Firefox
- Path

 

[James8561]

The problem is most people never heard of WP or think Nokia belongs in the past (good feelings toward them because of previous products, but considers them to be outdated)
Heck you the "windows 8 phone" thing shows how little people know.
I contacted my future university about a college app (that's already available for iOS and Android) but I have little hope it'll come anytime before I graduate.

 

[tungha]

ikr? i'm also curious about what basic features we lack lol

• orientation lock
• seperate volume control
• file manager for SD Card (may be API)

There's a lot of function that need to be implemented & i thought all of us already discussed about, or may be, my "basic" is different for yours

 

[Agent-P]

OP, I like this idea. And I agree we should focus on the smaller/medium/niche app developers as they're the ones that'll be more likely to listen. If this got started, I would definitely get involved.

• orientation lock
• seperate volume control
• file manager for SD Card (may be API)

There's a lot of function that need to be implemented & i thought all of us already discussed about, or may be, my "basic" is different for yours

While I agree that we're missing these three basic features, IMO they aren't really a big deal for developers who are considering bringing an app to WP (the exception may be the file manager, but I feel like it isn't since iOS doesn't have a file manager either).

 

[rdubmu]

We need to after developers who currently do have apps for the platform but are so behind verses the same app on another platform. For example: yelp (hasn't been updated since 2010, plus you can't write a review from your phone or check in) foursquare, they recently did update but still lack the ability to tag the friends you are with. There are plenty others as well. Twitter and Facebook were recently updated, probably only twitter is the most complete.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[wpn00b]

How about this? Download apps, even if you don't really want or need them. When big name apps like Ebay, Amazon, NBC news, etc put out an app, download it. And even better, rate it. It gets the download counts up and shows interest for the developers. If you don't like it or need it, you can easily uninstall it. I sometimes even buy an app I don't really need, just to help support a good developer.

I do this! That was my line of thinking as well. I keep in touch with one of my coworkers that I know has a Windows Phone and send her the links to app promotions from WPCentral for this very reason. The more downloads, the more ratings, the more our interest will be known.

 

[rdubmu]

Another idea is to do what wmpoweruser does. They let developers post previews of there apps. Maybe WpCentral which has a big audience can really make the app sell better.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[smerfy01]

OP, I like this idea. And I agree we should focus on the smaller/medium/niche app developers as they're the ones that'll be more likely to listen. If this got started, I would definitely get involved.



While I agree that we're missing these three basic features, IMO they aren't really a big deal for developers who are considering bringing an app to WP (the exception may be the file manager, but I feel like it isn't since iOS doesn't have a file manager either).

I think it'd be a good use of this community's time. It'd be good for the community as a whole as well, establishing something new to do, getting involved in new ways.

I want this platform to succeed. I love my HTC 8X (i know i know, i want a lumia but i can settle for now). This is coming from a former android supporter that just got absolutely sick and tired of micro-managing everything.

So we have one small list of developers. Anyone else have suggestions? Let's try to get this ball rolling!