Why doesn't Microsoft pay the official devs to build the most on demand apps for the Widows Store ?

[Windows Central Question]

It may sound like a newbie question, but why doesn't MS actually pay the likes of "snapchat" devs, for instance, to develop the same app they did for iOS, for example.
It could become some kind of contest for some time. The more essential the app for the Windows ecosystem at the moment, the more chance you have to get paid by MS to develop it, and even sustain it (maintenance) until Windows has a sufficient ecosystem of apps to be appealing to the majority of devs.

I know it could be a multi billion $$ endeavour, but isn't MS in dire need of app developers? It seems like the whole MS strategy is now based on developing apps for the store.

 

[Leonel Funes]

I think Dan talked about that and why that wouldn't work in the long run...

1. The devs would be dependent on payments... So Microsoft would be expected to pay for every update or something...

2. Snapchat just doesn't like Windows...

3. I forgot, but there are more points as to why this isn't the way to go...

I think Microsoft just has to make it very, very clear as to why devs should come over, but if it isn't clear enough by the numbers, features, capabilities, etc, then good luck winning over developers, therefore apps, therefore less users.

For now

 

[MikeX74]

They tried with Snapchat already. Snapchat declined.

 

[eshropshire]

It may sound like a newbie question, but why doesn't MS actually pay the likes of "snapchat" devs, for instance, to develop the same app they did for iOS, for example.
It could become some kind of contest for some time. The more essential the app for the Windows ecosystem at the moment, the more chance you have to get paid by MS to develop it, and even sustain it (maintenance) until Windows has a sufficient ecosystem of apps to be appealing to the majority of devs.

I know it could be a multi billion $$ endeavour, but isn't MS in dire need of app developers? It seems like the whole MS strategy is now based on developing apps for the store.

The cost of developing an app is not that high compared the the cost of maintaining and supporting the app. My team builds apps to support our enterprise software. We are now down to supporting only iOS and Android. We dropped BB10 last year and decided not to move forward supporting Windows 10 Mobile. The main reason was the ongoing cost of supporting another OS.

MS at this point is not going to invest in pushing developers to add support for Windows 10. Even MS is spending a lot more effort supporting iOS and Android with their apps then Windows 10 Mobile. Developers are not blind, we attend conferences like Build and receive MS newsletters and other information from and about the market. In addition, we see where Microsoft is focusing their efforts. We are going to do the same.

 

[jmshub]

This thread has been moved to an appropriate forum...
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[unmorphed]

They've done that. Even made the apps for them themselves.

Hell they've tried everything. Twice.