Developers finally embraced the Windows Phone 7 platform a year after its development tools were first released. It has been downloaded at least 1.5 million times and 36,000 people are part of the Windows Phone developer community.
At present there are 11,500 apps and games in the Windows Phone Marketplace. 7,500 are paid applications. Microsoft said that there are 1,200 registered developers added a week and around 1,100 apps are earning developer revenue through the Microsoft Advertising Ad Control.
Though the number of downloads are high, people who did the math said that only 2 percent of the downloaders registered and 32 percent of the 2 percent released applications. There are people who share the optimism of Microsoft. They said that the sample code, documentation and the community are well made. There might be hiccups in the way but this is seen in all platforms.
Microsoft wants to improve the Windows Phone 7 platform to allow more developers to create more applications. The company’s goal is to maintain the quality of the applications in the Marketplace by offering sample code, tools, and support to the developers. The Windows Phone Marketplace is said to be generating 10,000 apps faster than any other platforms.
The problem is that sales of Windows Phone 7 handsets has collapsed. Basically, nobody is buying them. Sales have been lackluster.
With few users, there’s no point developing apps for Windows Phone 7. Most WP7 devs make less than $20 for their efforts. Definitely not worth it.
Windows Phone 7 handsets have not collapsed. Maybe the crap apps make $20, but a number of app developers have been able to quit their jobs. One that I know of has already talked of starting his own game studio.
On average though, app developers seem to be making significantly more money on WP7 than on Android, given a specific quality of app, despite the lower handset sales.
More or less why developers are putting their Windows Phone apps on GiveMeApps.com
Seriously, why would a developer put in so much effort to get so little? I’d rather cash in and make sure I get every penny I can. Its a shame too because I DO love the Windows Phone platform more than any other.
WIndows 7 Phone is still so new yet.. NoDo update just came out a week ago and it works great… the apps are working great..
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft can do from behind.. its a solid phone.. and the update process is clean.. they need to just keep it going.. steady improvements to the OS. The app developers are lining up to be in position for Nokia release of their Windows Phone… world wide sales will be what the app developers have to look forward to.
All the pieces are in place.. app developers writing, updates have started, OS development, new phones from hardware manufactures, phone company support, low price phones, and huge dollar support from Microsoft. They don’t need to be number one, they just need to improve the platform… Andriod has a mess with updates and security.. All of us benefit from this competition…