Unofficial Apps

[waym1962]

I'm just curious how everyone feels these unofficial apps will affect Windows Phone and why they seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately. Are we getting developers from other platforms that like Windows Phone so much that instead of leaving the platform for apps they just decide to build suitable versions of the apps themselves? We've got two unofficial snapchat apps coming. We've had a few instagram apps pushing their way to the store and we just got an unofficial Gmail app based on the code of the iOS app. How will this affect windows phone and do you think we'll see the companies attacking these apps soon? So far it seems instagram has simply asked that itsdagram change some things to avoid confusion with the app they seem to plan to never bring to us. lol. what does everybody think?

 

[srcapps]

I think we're all growing frustrated with all the big-name apps/companies simply ignoring our platform. As for attacking us, well, we don't think it's in their best interest, but we know we could see our app removed in a matter of days, so it's definitely a risky time investment.

 

[MDak280]

I like this push for unofficial apps. It shows the big developers that there really is demand for their apps and I hope that it pushes them to create and support apps for WP.

Also, Instagram did not ask for Itsdagram to change its name, Microsoft did.

 

[waym1962]

I think we're all growing frustrated with all the big-name apps/companies simply ignoring our platform. As for attacking us, well, we don't think it's in their best interest, but we know we could see our app removed in a matter of days, so it's definitely a risky time investment.

Thank you for your work on these apps. I wish I knew how to code. I'd be working on a few apps that I wish were available too lol

 

[cybodroid]

Doubt anyone's going to be attacked over anything. At the very worst they'll be asked kindly to take the apps down, but these programs are merely making use of what's available publicly so it's not like any laws are being violated. If anything it'll push these developers to release official versions of their software to ensure that WP users are experiencing their service in the way it was intended.

At times these apps are better than the official release anyway so I don't have a problem with it personally. The fact that multiple developers are working on the same applications can only mean good things for us in the longrun.

 

[Jrexxx]

The way I see it: big companies don't want to invest any resources into building WP apps since it doesn't have a high market share. If indie devs can do it, so be it. It's good for the ecosystem. When more services have apps on WP (even if unofficial) there will be more people willing to make the move to WP -> more market share -> official apps get created. It's the only reasonable way for the platform to advance. You can't blame the companies for not creating an app, and even if they created an app, it gets updated once every 6 months or so. If Instance has shown us anything it's that WP users are willing to pay for good apps, making it a viable and profitable platform for 3rd party devs to develop apps.