Why are developers hesitant to develop for wp?

[10curtains]

I thought I would add a snippet of an email I received today from the Nationwide building society today.

This is in answer to my question when would an app for wp become available?

"Thankyou for your message.
I am sorry, we do not currently have a banking app for Windows phone as we have decided to focus mainly on the Android and Apple store as these are the top grossing devices."

The email gives me some sort of apology and the usual" your comments have been passed on to our developers"

I have been getting a similar response to all emails and feedback to companies for the last two years. This is the first honest response I've had.

 

[colinkiama]

I thought I would add a snippet of an email I received today from the Nationwide building society today.

This is in answer to my question when would an app for wp become available?

"Thankyou for your message.
I am sorry, we do not currently have a banking app for Windows phone as we have decided to focus mainly on the Android and Apple store as these are the top grossing devices."

The email gives me some sort of apology and the usual" your comments have been passed on to our developers"

I have been getting a similar response to all emails and feedback to companies for the last two years. This is the first honest response I've had.

At least they told the truth.

 

[hemanlive]

The latest announcement by Microsoft to unify apps across their entire ecosystem will go a long way to get developers interested in developing apps now. All of sudden, the number of users they can target will increase exponentially. As far as the end users go, there will be a great incentive to buy windows 8 (now 8.1) PCs and Tablets as most of the apps available on windows phone will be available.
I see this a game changer for Microsoft and if it can execute this strategy well, it will surely bridge the gap with iOS and Android to a large extent.

 

[ohgood]

The latest announcement by Microsoft to unify apps across their entire ecosystem will go a long way to get developers interested in developing apps now. All of sudden, the number of users they can target will increase exponentially. As far as the end users go, there will be a great incentive to buy windows 8 (now 8.1) PCs and Tablets as most of the apps available on windows phone will be available.
I see this a game changer for Microsoft and if it can execute this strategy well, it will surely bridge the gap with iOS and Android to a large extent.

That might be true if metro was axed. I don't think you will see flocks of people clamoring for windows because if unification alone. The devs won't care about unification either, until those flocks come.

I like the idea of 'write once' , but there isn't much of a point without a market to write for. Currently they looks like xp and some of 7

 

[hemanlive]

My point is that post unification the market size itself will shoot up exponentially. If you just look at windows phone market right now, it is miniscule. However, you add laptops and ultra-books to it and it becomes a huge market. I hope that this becomes an attractive enough proposition as there is no real option for app developers if they want to target PC users.

 

[tgp]

My point is that post unification the market size itself will shoot up exponentially. If you just look at windows phone market right now, it is miniscule. However, you add laptops and ultra-books to it and it becomes a huge market. I hope that this becomes an attractive enough proposition as there is no real option for app developers if they want to target PC users.

But who uses Windows Store apps? I know some people do and I can't speak for everyone, but at my workplace all of us use W8.1, and I don't believe any of us use a single app from the store for work or personal. So far it's all legacy programs. In fact, although I spend 10+ hours a day on a computer, I spend probably less than a minute a day in the Start UI (including Store apps); I'm there just long enough to type what I'm searching for and hit Enter.

 

[hemanlive]

whatever the size or number there is, it is still more than just the windows phone users. Plus, which other operating system do people use on their laptops/ultra-books/PCs? The universe of developers will go up significantly now and it is upto them how they make use of it.