Posted on 08/23/2010 5:49:13 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
Microsoft is touting the fact that it's had about 300,000 downloads of its development tools for the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 mobile OS, which is expected to hit store shelves in the form of mobile devices in October.
That's an impressive number -- until you compare it to the SDK downloads for the Android SDK over a comparable period. About three months after its November 2007 release, the original Android SDK had about 750,000 downloads.
Of course, the number of SDK downloads doesn't necessarily correlate with the number of apps that actually become available. In its first three months after its March 2008 release, Apple's original iPhone SDK had 250,000 downloads -- about the same as Windows Phone 7 has had so far.
Yet the number of iPhone apps today far exceeds that of Android apps: 225,000 with 5 billion downloads at the Apple App Store total versus 100,000 with 1 billion downloads at the Android Market. (Of course, both platforms have clearly caught on with developers and users, so being in second place is no slight for Android.)
Conversely, although there have long been multiple SDKs for Research in Motion's BlackBerry, that device has only about 9,500 apps available in the BlackBerry App World store.
(Excerpt) Read more at infoworld.com ...
One of the most interesting “developments” about Phone 7 is that Microsoft is not only allowing, but actively encouraging it’s employees to develop and sell apps for the new phone. Many of the developers I know at Microsoft are doing just that, and some of the apps and tools that are being created are amazing - creativity unleashed!
The Phone 7 SDK is also just releasing in Asia in native languages; as that happens, expect it to explode. I know in many programming job shops in China, Thailand, and India you’ll have a single download of the SDK, it’ll get burned to a CD, then installed on 30 or 40 computers for people to use...
Ultimately, I think Android will become the dominant consumer phone OS, simply because it’s so open, extensible, and free. Having two dozen hardware vendors - and tens of thousands of SW development houses - working on extending and enriching the sytem will ultimately create a superior customer experience.
And for business users, I think it’ll be Phone 7 and Blackberry, just like it is now. Both Microsoft and RIM intuitively understand the needs of the business user, and that’s something Apple nor most of the Android developers (hardware or otherwise) really get.
And worldwide, Symbian (Nokia), Android, and Blackberry will continue to dominate overall, and Phone 7 will be a strong 4th, simply because they “get” internationalization. On this last business trip it took just a few seconds to switch my phone to Chinese or Thai, as needed, so friends could use it. And it took just a few seconds to set it back to English so I could use it.
A phone OS that does not support alternate languages at the base level simply will not become a serious contender outside the US.
From what little I have seen of 7 it appears to be a very clear example of Redmond copying Apple. In fact many of the limitations so many fault the iPhone for are going to be present in the new WinMo phones.
btt
Windows, Blackberry and Droid all do flash which i use extensively on my websites and as others do in theirs. Apple does not. Apple’s safari browser on the Iphone doesn’t even do java very well.
Have you even TRIED Windows Phone 7? The UI is about as far from the iPhone UI as you can get. COMPLETELY different in structure and operation. Spend 30 seconds with a Win 7 phone and you’ll realize that Microsoft is copying nothing from Apple, other than making a smartphone (which, in fact, Microsoft did for years before Apple got into the market).
And, in reality, HTC’s Touch UI was out before the iPhone, as was SPB MobileShell. Apple’s iPhone UI is very derivative of both of these UIs, yet does not have the flexibility and configurability of either.
Yep, no flash on Apple phones, and Java is pretty poor as well. Can’t even install alternatives if you like, because Apple has deemed that “not acceptable” because it gives you - the user - too much control over the experience, rather than living with the “Apple Experience”.
I was meaning one place to get apps, from MS, and no Flash last I heard. The things that Apple is derided for. Not really the UI.
Microsoft has typically NOT been involved in the content delivery of 3rd party developers, allowing anyone to build and offer tools for their platforms (open platform, not a walled garden).
And they’ve not claimed no flash, just that they are still working on integrating flash and HTML5. It will be there, eventually. Different position than Apple who has categorically rejected the idea of flash.
Good informative post. Thanks.
Do you get to choose your carrier?
Umm...NO!
Win Phone 7 couldn't be more different from the iPhone. The whole WP7 interface is based on tiles for example, something that the iPhone doesn't have.
Plus WP7 gaming is strongly linked to the excellent XBOX Live, something that has been in existence from as long ago as 2001, long before the iPhone even came out.
It is a short thread, did you read the rest where I expanded upon what I meant?
Depends on which Windows Phone 7 model you want, I’m sure several if not all of the initial batch will have carrier exclusivity.
The Giz article is a bit misleading (as usual - they're Apple fans over there). In reality, there will be a walled Microsoft garden, but others will still get to create and sell their apps on their own if they like.
I believe the stance is an "acceptable" version of Flash. That of course can mean a lot of things. If the bar for acceptable is game playing, probably never. Although I think Adobe plans to have 10.1 on these phones.
TTBOMK, and from talking with guys at Microsoft, flash will be supported, just not out of the gate. They're taking things step-by-step...
Well, that's at least potentially better than "Hell, no!"
Do you have a source that says you will be able to sell your apps outside of the Windows Marketplace? I used Gizmodo, but that is only because it was the first that came up. The only loophole I have seen to this is that corporations can create their own specific apps to deploy but they won’t be available to the general public. Presumably not much different from you being able to create your own iPhone app that won’t be available to the general public.
Potentially. Although I think Apple would love to sell you an iPhone on other carriers, but shame on them they are honoring a contract. I really don’t get why people are so upset about something that is fairly common in the US cell phone market. The length of the contract is longer than usual, but why is no one pissed they can’t get a BB Storm on AT&T?
As far as the "shame on them for honoring a contract", that sounds like condescending bullshit. Nobody's complaining about them honoring it, they'c complaining about them having agreed to it.
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