How to increase the number of decent apps in the Marketplace

[adamopinheiro]

Hey guys,

I just had an idea on how to increase the number of decent apps in the Marketplace and I wanted to share with you guys.

I was thinking that we are always complaining about the lack of a number of apps we were used to use in iOS and Android and how could it be solved. So I come up with a strategy I think it would made a lot os sense for Microsoft to implement, and maybe someone might make it come true.

Microsoft should do something to attract the good devs out there and the best way to do this is giving them financial support. Instead of paying them, it could make a deal:

If you have a popular app on iOS or Android (no idea which criteria would apply yet, maybe number of downloads or revenue) and make an WP app in 2012 you get 100% revenue sharing for the first 6 months. (or maybe until it reaches a certain amount of $$)

Microsoft wouldn't loose anything because if the app is not there they are not getting anything anyway.

This incentive would be used just for popular apps from others ecosystems, just to make sure people wouldn't make crappy apps just to get the opportunity.

With all the good reviews out there the only thing that keep people out of the platform (once they are aware of it) is the lack of apps.

What do you think?

 

[toshdellapenna]

I second that. There are many moments where I consider jumping ship or at the very least picking up an iOs or Android device for specific needs. I would hate to have multiple gadgets when my already capable titan could do this if the platform were opened up for more apps and utilities.

Sent from my Htc Titan using Board Express

 

[Reflexx]

The app store is already growing at a pretty incredible rate. So I don't think that a special deal like that across all devs is going to happen. But I could see it happening with certain targeted developers that have successful apps on other platforms.

 

[adamopinheiro]

I know that it is growing fast, but I do not wish 100,000 apps, I want 100 apps I need.

I've seen plenty of apps which are just an RSS reader of a single website, published by a single dev. So numbers only doesn't mean much. What most people want is to have their good , popular apps from their old ecosystem on it.

I've been asked a couple of times if there was Viber on it, just to make an example.

I don't have my Bank app on WP. I don't have a good movie theathers app. I don't have AutoCAD WS. I don't have Dropbox or Box.net officially...

And new users care about this, so Microsoft need to do something about it.

 

[Siah1214]

For the windows 8 marketplace, if your app makes $25,000, the cut microsoft takes goes from 30% to 20%.
So I think we can expect that to apply to Win 7 phones in the near future.

 

[Reflexx]

I know that it is growing fast, but I do not wish 100,000 apps, I want 100 apps I need.

I've seen plenty of apps which are just an RSS reader of a single website, published by a single dev. So numbers only doesn't mean much. What most people want is to have their good , popular apps from their old ecosystem on it.

I've been asked a couple of times if there was Viber on it, just to make an example.

I don't have my Bank app on WP. I don't have a good movie theathers app. I don't have AutoCAD WS. I don't have Dropbox or Box.net officially...

And new users care about this, so Microsoft need to do something about it.

MS does already give some deals to establish developers to port their apps. Before Mango, some apps just weren't possible. Or in order to get them to work, they required work-arounds.

After Mango, many of the challenges have been alleviated. And now it's up to the developers to get the apps over.

Brandon Watson has been doing a great job of reaching out to developers. And many of the big names are setting aside some resources for WP ports as we speak. But because the market share is still pretty low, it's not exactly their top priority. So the amount of resources dedicated to it might not be enough to get you everything you want as soon as you want it.

But the fact that WP is picking up steam will sure help. Nokia's Lumia 800 is now the top selling phone in France. Devs see stuff like this. And if this trend continues (which I believe it will), then the apps you crave will start making their way over.

 

[N8ter]

For the windows 8 marketplace, if your app makes $25,000, the cut microsoft takes goes from 30% to 20%.
So I think we can expect that to apply to Win 7 phones in the near future.

That won't matter all that much to developers if the volume of sales they get on Android and iOS far outpaces WP7. They will still be reluctant to port the app over, not support it as well, or in some cases simply stop supporting it altogether.

Selling 5k units and having it drop to 20% is not as great as selling 25k units on iOS and Android and paying Apple/Google 30%. In those cases they can even sell for less and still make significantly more money while attracting sales with lower proces on those platforms.

WP7 needs MORE USERS to attract more developers and to get top apps ported over and brought to feature parity faster on this platform. Some apps are coming, but the feature disparity moving from iOS/Android to WP7 with an App like WhatsApp is just too big for some people, especially if they depend on that app for a lot of their communication. That is just one example, of course.

The user above also has a point about DropBox and Box.net . For someone who uses those services a lot, it's simply not feasable to expect them to migrade potentially gigabytes of data from Box.net to SkyDrive.

Lastly, there is a cost with moving platforms. If you bought $1-200 worth of apps on Android or iOS, you will think about the repurchasing costs whenever you consider a new platform.

EDIT: Wanted to say something else... If you do not use a Windows PC, you basically can't develop for Windows Phone. Apple has this issue as well, but Android can be developed for on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Also, the ability to sideload Applications on Android means that developers can get to work with a $0 investment in the platform. All they need is a phone, even a carrier locked phone provided it isn't a crippled AT&T model (but I think they stopped doing that).

 

[scottcraft]

If the platform grows like I think it will this next year many of the apps we want will be ported to WP. When I first got my droid a lot of popular apps from the app store weren't there, but within a year that changed a lot.

Sent from my Windows 7 Phone using Board Express

 

[N8ter]

It's already been over a year for WP7. The difference is that while top app developers seemed eager to support the platform, there are a lot of companies just writing the platform off or simply stating they have no plans to develop/port their app for/to WP7.

Developers were literally forced to support Android due to how fast it grew. WP7 isn't growing nearly as fast, so there is much less incentive. Also, Android's fast-paced hardware evolution makes it easier to port games from top iOS SKUs, whereas WP7 ports often result in performance regressions for games and even apps in some cases.

The API issues and OS-enforced lockdowns also make it impossible to develop some app types (or keep them in feature parity with an identical user experience) on this platform.

 

[gsquared]

With all of the talk about lack of apps here I may as well ask this question.

What type of apps do you consider to be essential that are not already on the WP7 app store?

BTW: I am not talking about games...

Having never used an IOS or Android device it always makes me very curious when this comes up.

 

[Rodolfo#WP]

I don't need more apps; it's still just a phone. I want increasing WP7/8 functionality/features, and even greater specs.