Today at the 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft is expected to announce that it will soon be opening up its mobile app development program to developers from around the world in preparation for the public launch of the Windows Marketplace for Mobile platform later this year. Starting July 27, developers from 29 countries will gain access to the program and be encouraged to start working on a range of mobile applications for Microsoft’s very own app store on both the Windows Mobile 6, 6.1 and 6.5 operating system.
So how does Microsoft intend to convince developers to flock to the program? Well according to Todd Brix, Senior Director of Mobile Platform Services at Microsoft, the company’s reach should already be enough to pique developer interest, especially now that it turns out Marketplace for Mobile will support any phone powered by Windows Mobile 6.x.
WinMo’s reach comes from the existing ecosystem of partners and ISVs (independent software vendors) that developers can tap into, as well as the not-to-be-underestimated market share of Windows Mobile phones. Whether you think Microsoft’s operating system for handheld devices is a dog compared to the iPhone, Palm WebOS or Android platform—I know I do after years of camp fights with a Windows Mobile 6-powered HTC S710—over 30 million phones equipped with the software have been sold to date.
Microsoft is today announcing a number of other things also. The company is touting a new category in the store that it hopes will become a strong unique selling proposition: Business apps. The enterprise market has long been Redmond’s bread and butter, so it makes sense for them to put a lot of focus on that category. Other than that, the company is launching a developer contest and has detailed pricing for certification of applications. In short: there will be an annual application fee of $99 per app, but the first five ones (per developer) that find their way to the store are free of charge if submitted before the end of 2009. Microsoft will take a 30% cut of revenues generated by paid applications, which is the same that Apple charges for paid iPhone apps.
Microsoft is stepping into this game ridiculously late. While there are already an estimated 20,000 applications for the Windows Mobile platform out there, the application store isn’t launching until the end of this year (likely in December, I’m told) Marketplace will only be available to WinMo 6.5 users next Fall and to 6.0 and 6.1 users by the end of this year. Microsoft is essentially acknowledging Apple got it right with its App Store years ago and is only now trying to follow in its footsteps. Earlier, Microsoft had said that it expects to launch this Fall with an estimated 600 certified applications.
In the meantime, Google has already gone live with the Android Market, while RIM has its App World for BlackBerry, Palm has introduced its App Catalog store and Nokia recently took the wraps off its Ovi Store. Heck, even handset maker LG beat Microsoft by launching its own application store with about 1,400 apps for Windows Mobile-powered phones just yesterday.
I wonder if by the time Microsoft finally gets around to pushing Marketplace for Mobile live, people are going to have a problem looking at it as a differentiating product rather than as a late catch-up play by Redmond. What do you think?
Better late than never. Good luck MS!
Agree. That’s what I think too.
Agreed, best of luck to Larry, Curly and WinMo.
Robin — another great article! As for your question – “people are going to have a problem looking at it as a differentiating product rather than as a late catch-up play by Redmond” … I think it’s alright as long as they do it their own way. And it’s never too late. Better late than never. The more important part is the developers — let’s hope they like it and come out with something great for users. If users love it, then the platform will grow, prosper, etc
- Darren at AdExcel dot Com
How is it that you are always one of the first to post?
get an rss reader, set it to download 10 minutes and you’ll get the article when it is posted that way you can be one of the 1st too
And he loves spamming the posts.
One more platform to learn for development companies like us. Developers will need one more OS now for development. Mac for iPhone, Linux for Blackberry and Android and now Windows for this.
Anyways I think this is a good move by Microsoft rather it was the only option for them. But I doubt it will be able to generate same amount of revenue for developers as Apple did. It will need serious efforts for getting developer on to the platform.
Check out Rhodes:
Rhomobile’s open source mobile application framework Rhodes lets you quickly build native mobile applications for all smartphone operating systems: iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android. These are true native device applications (not mobile web apps) which work with synchronized local data and take advantage of device capabilities such as GPS, PIM contacts and camera. To make development of applications with the Rhodes framework even easier, Rhomobile recently introduced RhoHub, the first hosted development solution for mobile applications.
It would depend on how good their SDK will be. If a regular .Net programmer can leverage what they know now, a lot of them would build apps.
Well, most of the .NET skills will port over. I don’t know how you’d get to things like the GPS and such, but all the core functionality is generally available to .NETCF (especially with 3.5, which added a LOT).
I don’t think the success of this marketplace is so much contingent on the timing of Microsoft’s arrival to the game as much it is on the quality of WinMo 6.5 and eventually WinMo 7 and the (hopefully) innovative devices that are built for them.
WinMo 6.x (<6.5) are notoriously klugey and mobile-unfriendly. If these new mobile OS’ can prove to overcome these shortcomings and someone builds a decent device to take advantage of the OS, I see no reason that this won’t be successful for MS.
With that said, many users have WinMo just b/c and they aren’t enthusiastic about using their phone for more than talking and text messaging so that piece of the market is still lost… although they might be able to win some of it back over time. And, of course, there’s no denying that a takeover of the iPhone and the AppStore is a lot more than just an uphill climb.
Microsoft’s grip on the technology world is slowly tightening. Next year they will tell us that apps developed for the WinMo will run on Zune, Windows, Xbox, IE, in our cars, etc.
It’s rare that a first mover reaps the full glory of an industry they create. Apple is a formidable company, but how can it compete long term with the massive ecosystem microsoft has built?
It doesn’t matter how late they are… developers will migrate to the stores that have the most user reach.
Microsoft may be late, but Windows Mobile has many users – way more than some of the stores that have already launched.
A store with many users, that is easy to get your app listed in with clearly spelled out and followed acceptance/rejection policies, and properly promoted and pre-installed on all the devices or built right into the OS… well, that may have a fighting chance for them.
Definitely agree. MS has a better chance than Palm because they have the user base already.
Palm basically had to start from scratch with the Pre.
the screen shots of marketplace are horrendous. get rid of the category icons that are not needed. this app resembles what MyLocator has done. simple classification channels in alphbetical order. where do we go from here?
I don’t see anything wrong with the icons. I actually like them. text and image bassed navigation looks much better than just plain text.
Apple notebooks are still selling pretty good.
Yeh, better late than never. Everyone wins when there are options (for devices and apps) which drive competition, better phones, and lower prices.
We are early in the smartphone game. Today, iPhone is the gold standard but Win Mobile, RIM, Google, Palm, & Nokia are all forced to duke it out. This is good!
Isn’t anything Microsoft markets a success?
Bing? XBox? MS Office? Do you even think? Oh, and the most popular OS ever?
These guys had the market years ago and slept on it. It is completely embarrassing how they mess this up.
http://Sprnch.com
Too little too late I don’t think it will be able to compete in general with web os or OS X for iphone.
I don’t think it’s too little too late. Reach is important and MSFT has it.
Give it to Microsoft they really are trying this year.
Maybe if MSFT gave out thousands of purdy new WinMo-loaded devices to Bay Area developers they’d gain a little more traction =)
We will be kicking off a set of MobileDevCamps in the coming weeks. The first of these is scheduled to be in Seattle : http://tr.im/wmdc
from the MS site.. “Marketplace will be pre-installed in every single Windows Mobile 6.5 device allowing you to reach a broad audience.” …. unless you happen to have Verizon http://www.enga...er-app-store-b/
All other (non-iPhone) mobile platforms need a third party development environments which can port a single application code base to many phones.
Microsoft, BB, Pre, Nokia, LG should start getting in line at Appcelerator’s door.
Looks like Verizon is not going to play ball and will be launching their own AppStore. If AT&T doesn’t play nice either, GAME OVER MS (for the US anyways).
$99 each time you submit an app. Then when Microsoft fails your app, $99 to re-submit. This so-called “app store” will fail. It is inevitable. It cannot compete.