Why are developers hesitant to develop for wp?

[Chregu]

I've never seen WP8 as an OS. I have always seen myself as a beta tester. I mean hell WP8 came out like 2 years ago, not even and Android has been around for awhile now same with iOS.

WP8.1 will be the real deal. MSFT got their foot in the door and now they are going to come through and when they do they will hit the ground running hard. WP8.1 will open a whole new can of worms.

You should become a preacher, you're almost selling your enthusiasm ;-)

First of all, and I say this over and over again, Microsoft was offering an OS for Mobile Phones for years before there was an iPhone and before there was Android. It's not like they didn't have any experience. It's just not an argument that WP is new. An OS should be compared to the current competition. Everybody who is using WP accepts some drawbacks because the system has potential. But there was just almost no work on this potential since the release of WP7. For too long WP was just some kind of side project of Microsoft.

Also, why don't you reserve your judgement about WP8.1 at least until it is officially announced? ;-)

And consider this, WP8.1 will introduce apps that are not backwards compatible to WP8. Depending on how fast the old handsets will be updated, that won't help the app ecosystem at all. And measured at the time of how long it took past updates to come to phones, it won't be a fast process.

 

[radmanvr]

I was a motivational speaker for my platoon back in my U.S Army days.

You mean win mobile 6.5? Come on man that doesn't count. Just because they have experience in mobile doesn't mean its the same type of mobile there is now. Smartphones are a totally different ball game. Yes, I believe you when you say WP is a side project of MSFT but I believe the table has turned for them as they are trying to merge WP with WinRT/Win8. This is the money maker now and that's why I believe WP8.1 will allow them to pick up momentum and they will keep charging until they are in the lead.

 

[Chregu]

I was a motivational speaker for my platoon back in my U.S Army days.

You mean win mobile 6.5? Come on man that doesn't count. Just because they have experience in mobile doesn't mean its the same type of mobile there is now. Smartphones are a totally different ball game. Yes, I believe you when you say WP is a side project of MSFT but I believe the table has turned for them as they are trying to merge WP with WinRT/Win8. This is the money maker now and that's why I believe WP8.1 will allow them to pick up momentum and they will keep charging until they are in the lead.

What I mean is that feature-wise, the knowledge was there. Of course, they had maybe too many features on Windows Mobile, it was complicated and a mess. They should just have stopped removing them a little bit earlier (and I know it's not as easy as deleting stuff, it's about the idea). VPN was on Windows Mobile, two different sound settings was on Windows Mobile, apps on SD cards was on Windows Mobile, a good calender was on Windows Mobile, and so on, and so on.

I also think that WP has now a much more important place in Microsoft's strategy, and that is promising for the future.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Money. That is all.

 

[colinkiama]

Lol has anyone thought about API's. Does Microsoft provide enough of them to make the developers job easier?

 

[tgp]

Lol has anyone thought about API's. Does Microsoft provide enough of them to make the developers job easier?

I don't know about that, but I do know that lack of certain APIs and/or OS restrictions makes some apps impossible to even exist, and others to work properly.

 

[anony_mouse]

If they develop apps for Windows 8 that can also run on Windows Phone 8 - they are going to reach waaaay more than 4% marketshare. Windows 8 was 8% of the market back in November 2013. That makes 12% and we all know, Windows 8 users are only going to increase each week.

You are adding market shares from two different markets. That doesn't work.
Certainly, having the same app run on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 would help developers, but the statistics I've seen for use of Metro apps on Windows 8 are fairly pitiful. So far, Windows 8 users don't seem very interesting in Metro apps. The increase in sales may be much less than you think.

 

[TozyJay]

As a developer, the perception of Windows Phone 8 is that it's too small of a market to be worthwhile. If app sales are your bread and butter, it makes sense to stay on the major platforms where you're already successful. It's a *huge* risk to spend months learning how to develop for Windows and porting over your app only to have it get a handful of downloads.

I'm a .NET developer by trade and I make most of my money doing contract work. I'm not looking to release an app tomorrow and have it magically be my main source of income. It just makes sense for me to develop for Windows Phone. I have a leg-up on the development time needed and I can afford to cultivate it as a niche skill. Eventually it could put me farther up the food chain in a far less crowded market. As for a seasoned iOS developer, I don't blame them one bit for not embracing a new platform just yet.

Just my two cents.

 

[JMBasquiat]

Sometime ago any application build with VS studio belong to MSFT. For example if I build something with
VS c++ I would be using
MSFT c++ libraries. Therefore my app was patent to MSFT and belong to MSFT for using their code. On the other hand lets say I want to write application using
c++ using CodeBlock IDE. I will be using open source c++libraries. The application is mine 100% with 0% patent. I can port it to whom I like without any patents

Where are you getting this information from? Can you provide a link?

Windows 8. WP 8, and Win RT. Is open now. Just like Linux, Java *Sun*, And XCode. I love it and know many developers love it too.

Windows 8, WP8 or WinRT are not at all "open" like Linux. And neither is XCode.

 

[Christian Holmstedt]

I think it's clearly because of money and the Catch-22 effect as said previously.

Now, I do think it MS should invest in apps for the platform and develop in-house. By developing stellar quality apps for most major / popular fields I think it will be a great start for increasing the user base (market share).
Very much like NOKIA did by developing a bundle of good apps. The Here+ Drive GPS app and Here Maps are great apps that integrate well with the WP8 OS. I used it on a cross-country trip recently and can't say anything bad about the navigation app at all..... especially since it is free!

 

[michail71]

Where are you getting this information from? Can you provide a link?



Windows 8, WP8 or WinRT are not at all "open" like Linux. And neither is XCode.

If I remember correctly I think there was some confusion on interpreting the license language. I don't know what it was myself. But I don't think anyone ever had MS take ownership of their software that I can recall. MS may have been protecting themselves from someone trying to rewrap the APIs and resell them, etc. Of course, I could be wrong in all this.

The open source movement started up back in those early days and just about became a religion to many. People were making it their life's mission to go after Microsoft and any company or individual that wanted to keep their source code proprietary. I had some friends that that's all they could talk about. They'd go on about open source for hours and hours. So I think some FUD spread as a result.

 

[savagelizards]

Its not at all about the number of apps,its about the quality.most of the essential apps - WhatsApp,fb,music players etc are not at all upto the mark.laggy buggy apps,even if the number is less I would appreciate well programmed apps

+929

 

[savagelizards]

As a Windows (Phone) developer I can say that one of the more interesting things about developing for Windows Phone is the shared code with Windows 8. It's still quite hard to port, but they're working on it, and it might be a huge selling point for developers if they could make one app that runs on both Windows and Windows Phone. It's true that there aren't a lot of users on Windows Phone compared to iOS and Android, but combine the Windows Phone audience with the Windows audience and your userbase has grown with 200 million (amount of licenses sold) potential users. Now only if they would use the Store more...

This is what I am thinking.

Once the installed base of WP 8 users is migrated to WP 8.1, any app written for Windows RT will run on WP. However, if I were to write an app for WP 8 today, I would need to re-write it to support Windows RT, which any Windows 8 machine will also support. That means I need to write the app twice.

As a result, if I am a developer and I would otherwise be making a port of an existing app for WP or a brand new app for WP today, I would hold off.

It wouldn't make good business sense to write it today and write it again in a month or two to support Windows RT. What I would do is write apps for Windows RT now, and all I would have to do to extend my reach to the WP market will be to do some responsive design for the smaller display sizes and *PRESTO* I have a new WP app that runs on WP 8.1.

What this means is there is a short-term disincentive to develop apps for WP at the moment. However, there is certainly going to be activity now that will be stocking the combined WP 8.1/Windows 8 app store for delivery this summer.

The other aspect of this is that XP hits end of life next month, and that will certainly cause a wave of upgrades this spring. Some enterprise IT types will no doubt dig in their heels and opt instead for Windows 7, but the bulk of the consumer upgrades will end up with new Windows 8.1 touchscreen devices. Sure, a few may get iPads or Macs, but legacy software is what kept these XP machines viable for most users - and 8.1 supports virtually anything that XP will run.

So, to the extent that there are developers interested in this platform, their best plan of action is to write Windows RT apps now, and let the marketplace expand from two new sources - WP 8.1 users and XP upgraders.

 

[fdalbor]

Have to agree; with all the resources Microsoft has they need to fill in any holes there is in the ecosystem until developers get the mindset to do it for them. If they are not developing many apps for their own OS why in the world would developers do so. Nokia has done a much better job than Microsoft in developing apps for the system. Mobile cannot be ignored as they did in the past. And as far as write once; run everywhere I don't know if that is the answer. How many apps written for Iphones run on macs. ???????????????????

 

[anony_mouse]

The bottom line is Wndows is finally open. Thus more Dev's will be attracted to the platform. Including Google.

Please can you explain how "Windows is finally open"? How is Windows Phone, Windows RT or Windows 8 more open than, say, Windows XP or Windows NT 4.0? I can think of one way that WP and WinRT are less open - you have to publish software via the Microsoft app store.

 

[k0de]

Please can you explain how "Windows is finally open"? How is Windows Phone, Windows RT or Windows 8 more open than, say, Windows XP or Windows NT 4.0? I can think of one way that WP and WinRT are less open - you have to publish software via the Microsoft app store.

Correct. .

Open I refer as in free. Everything is provided by MSFT at no charge to Develop your App. Tons of resource to get started and code samples that can be used for your Apps. All for free.,

And best of all if you are a highly skill developer you can make tons of money at the App store and become rich. All for free.

Just like Linux, Android, Apple. ;-).

The word is getting around. It is just a matter of time. Soon Dev's will rain on this platform.

 

[TozyJay]

Some would argue that Apple development is far from free. Apple's developer program is more expensive that Android or Windows for individuals (the same as Windows for business). Additionally, traditional apple development requires a Mac machine of some kind to compile the code. There is no real technical reason for this, they just want people to buy $1500+ macs.

I suppose Microsoft could potentially offer a cheaper/free development program subscription, but they would need to keep a robust quality review process. The Google Developer program is dirt cheap and Google Play has virtually no quality check. It's like the wild west. A ton of apps, but the lion's share are absolutely horrid and have a <10 downloads.

 

[michail71]

I think MS is lucky enough to have a long time pool of visual studio developers. That's probably why we se so many 3rd party apps on this platform.

Given all the years I spent as a dotnet developer and doing some Silverlight too has helped me get around in the WP SDK rather easily. I still hate XAML though and some of the hoops you have to jump through for some data bindings .

 

[k0de]

Do you agree that Microsoft needs to let developers run free on Windows Phone, or do you appreciate a well managed and secure operating system?

https://mobile.twitter.com/danielgary/status/444560466807771137?screen_name=danielgary

http://wmpoweruser.com/high-profile...ons-android-and-ios-dont-have/comment-page-1/

 

[colinkiama]

Do you agree that Microsoft needs to let developers run free on Windows Phone, or do you appreciate a well managed and secure operating system?

https://mobile.twitter.com/danielgary/status/444560466807771137?screen_name=danielgary

http://wmpoweruser.com/high-profile...ons-android-and-ios-dont-have/comment-page-1/

in my opinion, windows phone's identity is between ios and android. More customisable than ios but restricted enough to still be secure, that's what I think it should be like so they should make it more open... But not TOO open.