Why are developers hesitant to develop for wp?

[Pulak Vatsya]

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

 

[ohgood]

But releasing the app on all 3 platforms would only bring more cash to the developer

mmm, I doubt it. what app do I currently use on desktop, tablet and phone ?
a browser, that syncs automagically , and rhymes with "chrome"
a note taking app, syncs on whatever I'm on, sounds like evernote


OK, that's the list.




people are missing a huge chunk of the picture as illustrated above:

the app wars are -over-. it happened over the last few years when Microsoft was still trying to figure out how to change the office ui enough to justify another 'upgrade ' sale.

what happened? people tried/rented, and BOUGHT apps on their phone, that they wanted, while Microsoft was screaming " ours has office!"

then, when Microsoft realized people didn't want office on their phones, even for free, they had a second epiphany: people had already chosen and become content with a mobile operating system, market, and vendor.

that is why developers don't care about developing for palm, wp, sailfish, or whatever the next tiny market share following os pops up.

there simply is no incentive to Dev for the missing mimdshare

 

[Tre Lawrence]

Develop an app for any platform is hard work and require a lot of extra resources. Sure, I'm a billionaire, I could release an app to a million market place at once. But the fact that majority of the devs are not. The ones that are, ROI is important to them
It's not like you can just flip a switch and make an app work in WP.

Exactly.

ROI is the name of the game.

 

[androidtoWM]

But releasing the app on all 3 platforms would only bring more cash to the developer

you've to consider the investment as well.

 

[tgp]

(and by the way, it's actually 33.3% more work to get that additional 4% of the market, but your point stands).

Ah yeah, thanks, it's been awhile since I took math in school!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Exactly.

ROI is the name of the game.

 

[colinkiama]

mmm, I doubt it. what app do I currently use on desktop, tablet and phone ?
a browser, that syncs automagically , and rhymes with "chrome"
a note taking app, syncs on whatever I'm on, sounds like evernote


OK, that's the list.




people are missing a huge chunk of the picture as illustrated above:

the app wars are -over-. it happened over the last few years when Microsoft was still trying to figure out how to change the office ui enough to justify another 'upgrade ' sale.

what happened? people tried/rented, and BOUGHT apps on their phone, that they wanted, while Microsoft was screaming " ours has office!"

then, when Microsoft realized people didn't want office on their phones, even for free, they had a second epiphany: people had already chosen and become content with a mobile operating system, market, and vendor.

that is why developers don't care about developing for palm, wp, sailfish, or whatever the next tiny market share following os pops up.

there simply is no incentive to Dev for the missing mimdshare

Microsoft should focus on Xbox live on WP and advertise it since it's an exclusive feature the people actually care about.

 

[michail71]

Before iOS and Android. MSFT was developer safe heaven. But if you developed for MSFT your application belong to MSFT not the Developer.

I'm not sure I understand that first point. Since when has MS owned software written by private parties? They have a long history of being a developer friendly company.

 

[k0de]

I'm not sure I understand that first point. Since when has MS owned software written by private parties? They have a long history of being a developer friendly company.

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,

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.

Developers are realizing this and soon will come to MSFT platforms. It won't take long for MSFT to regain the trust of developers as long as MSFT keep the market open.

Android is open source. That is the reason behind its success. Being open it is a Developer safe heaven.

 

[badplanet]

I have been writing software for Windows since the 1990's and Microsoft has never owned or had a patent on anything I wrote. I think you are confusing open-source with closed source. Photoshop has been around for a long time but MS does not own any part of it. Adobe chooses to not make it open-source or free because they are a business to make a profit.

 

[k0de]

I have been writing software for Windows since the 1990's and Microsoft has never owned or had a patent on anything I wrote. I think you are confusing open-source with closed source. Photoshop has been around for a long time but MS does not own any part of it. Adobe chooses to not make it open-source or free because they are a business to make a profit.

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

 

[hemanlive]

Too many people have give their views and most would qualify as going 'off-topic'. However, for a question like this going off topic is required. So here is my opinion:
Just like users, developers too have a categories like early adopters and laggards. Right now only early movers and some 'followers' have started developing apps for Windows. it will take time to get more 'followers' onto this platform.

 

[taymur]

because people fear taking risks.... although there is a chance of higher rewards.

like what Rudy did. I really doubt Rudy could have made - 5% of what he achieved on the WP platform - on any other platform (as the need was obvious on WP), weirdly no one cared to fill it.

 

[Chregu]

Ah yeah, thanks, it's been awhile since I took math in school!

It was 50 % more. Developing for iOS and Android is 100 % of the work. If you have to develop for a third platform you have to put in again half as much work as you already have. This is 50 % of the initial work, 50 % more work than before.

At least if developing for all the platforms is the same amount of work. How easy is it to port from iOS to Android, from Android to iOS, and from iOS or Android to WP?

 

[AaHaa]

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...

 

[michail71]

Too many people have give their views and most would qualify as going 'off-topic'. However, for a question like this going off topic is required. So here is my opinion:
Just like users, developers too have a categories like early adopters and laggards. Right now only early movers and some 'followers' have started developing apps for Windows. it will take time to get more 'followers' onto this platform.

I'd say it's further along than that. There are cases where smaller banks are not up to the task. But banks tend to be slow and overly cautious when it comes to technology (for good reason too). Thus they don't always attract the most talented developers and creative types.

 

[adam rock]

why developers dont give a damn about wp?...simple....wp users are very small and microsoft has made the certification so hectic that budding developers dont want to waste time around it.

 

[rockstarzzz]

Not to mention the fact that if s/he wanted to release for WP around the same time as the other platforms, s/he would have had to delay the release on all platforms until the WP development was done, potentially missing a window of opportunity.

(and by the way, it's actually 33.3% more work to get that additional 4% of the market, but your point stands).

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.

 

[AV2RY]

I Love WP, but want addition phone based on android or ios just because some apps (Whatsapp and Mail agent for example) sometimes deliver messages too late. I said it hundred time and will say it again..it simply makes you uncomfortable and Forces you apologize to person on the other end. Why I have to do so if I know I have solution for it, just waiting for 8.1 now, we'll see if it solves the problem. I don't think its hardware problem at all, maybe app support? But anyway, some people having same issue I have just move to another platform, I believe. And dev's don't care much about WP, why would they if they have success on android and ios

 

[radmanvr]

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.