Windows Phone 8 Still Getting Little Interest from Developers

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Microsoft hopes that Windows Phone 8 can rise to greater fame than its preceding Windows Phone 7 and 7.5.

The company will need to generate much more enthusiasm not just among consumers, but among (game) developers as well, but it is apparent that Microsoft has some work to do.

A report published by Venture Beat suggests that Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle since most game developers have put their eggs in the Android and iOS basket. Stretching their resources to accommodate a Windows Phone play would require financial backing and a willingness to take a substantial risk that is rare in today's economic environment.

Google recently confirmed that Android Market now holds more than 700,000 apps, while Apple's App Store currently has 711,000 active apps. WP7 Applist estimates the apps available for Windows Phone at about 94,200, which is less than the number of games in the Apple App Store alone - 128,060.

Venture Beat quoted the CEO of PlayFirst who said that Windows Phone 8 is not in the company's "near term plans". This sentiment appears to be present among most top app developers. Of course, WP8 is not shut out, but the OS will have to achieve much greater interest among consumers to generate serious interest among developers.

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Wolfgang Gruener
43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • killerclick
    Good. Metro and everything infected with it needs to die. Then Microsoft can go back to the drawing board, and formulate a new mobile strategy that doesn't involve forcing desktop users to run tablet user interfaces and smartphone apps.
    Reply
  • besplatan
    Die, Metro, die.
    Reply
  • madjimms
    I think the mobile phone market is just too saturated to become profitable for new companies.
    Reply
  • joytech22
    Windows Phone isn't a bad platform, in fact it's pretty damn good.
    It's simple, intuitive, different, fast and flexible.

    People are so caught up with iOS and Android they don't see the potential Windows Phone devices have.
    I hope it succeeds because it deserves to be up there with the rest.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    Yet another glowing review of The Interface Formerly Known As Metro (TIFKAM):
    http://www.extremetech.com/computing/138847-the-metro-desktop-interaction-in-windows-8-is-an-absolute-train-wreck

    One of the problems with TIFKAM is that negativity towards Win8 will carry over to WP8 regardless of its usability on mobile platforms.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    madjimmsI think the mobile phone market is just too saturated to become profitable for new companies.The patent mess alone will cause that. It's difficult to enter even for old megacorps with divisions of lawyers.
    Reply
  • XNA. I spent some nights and weekends working with it specifically for writing Windows Phone apps and games, plus be able to target xbox indie games, and pc with one code base. Now they've pulled the plug on XNA. Excuse me if I'm not super excited to start developing apps for your new phone. The whole part about the sdk only working on windows 8 running on real hardware sucks too. I have my windows 7 the way I like it. So it would mean setting up an additional pc to run windows 8. I'll most likely switch to MonoDevelop/MonoGame so I can target other platforms.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    jhansonxiThe patent mess alone will cause that. It's difficult to enter even for old megacorps with divisions of lawyers.On that note: http://www.myce.com/news/microsoft-sued-over-new-ui-in-windows-8-64585/
    Reply
  • That's stupid. If there are no developers there will be no consumers.
    Reply
  • Looking at the Windows 8 APIs and the Windows 8 Phone APIs the developer does not have to do a lot of work to port from Windows 8 RT (Modern UI) to the Windows 8 Phone. So when developers start to target the Modern UI it will be cost effective to port the app to the Phone.

    The real problem is Microsoft, they create new devices and 4-6 months later they pull them from the market. Microsoft will have to create some quality titles to drive support from the devices and other developers.

    I did not like the Modern UI when I was using a mouse/keyboard, but with a keyboard/multi-touch pad it is as easy to navigate the Modern UI as it is for me to Navigate OSX
    Reply