4 ms·

Did everything they could... Ah, yes. $100 per app. I'm sure that's what most apps cost to produce. /s It seems like they did a few things, but never actually

Did everything they could... Ah, yes. $100 per app. I'm sure that's what most apps cost to produce. /s It seems like they did a few things, but never actually, you know, paid app developers to build out their ecosystem.

wlesieutre 9y ago
Hey, if you're optimizing for "number of apps on our store" I bet it worked great! Why spend $100,000 developing something one app when you could get 1000 for the same price?!
- zuminator 9y ago
  Instead of paying per app, would make more sense to let devs keep 90% of store revenue, which would incentivize the development of apps that are actually popular and make money.
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    Hell, let developers keep 100% of store revenue, at least until you have a customer base. It's not much worse for MS than 90%, and it makes a much nicer marketing story if you're trying to convince developers to get on your platform.
- ssully 9y ago
  It was a slight eye opener for me as a student at the time getting near graduation. The part of the workshop going through the app submittal and approval process was actually really interesting, but when it became clear that the bigger effort was to boost app numbers in the store things felt really dirty. Either way that experience always comes up for me whenever people talk about the low quality of apps on the Windows store.
- dabockster 9y ago
  > "We have millions more apps than the competition." > leaves out the fact that 99% of them are either web wrappers or low quality games This is why we have confounding factors, kids.
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    Even with paying out this money for shovelware they never matched up to Apple's app store numbers. I had a Surface Pro 3 at the time and there were maybe 10 apps worth using on a touchscreen. Eventually gave up and sold it to get a Mac and iPad.
SyneRyder 9y ago
They tried that too. The Verge reported in 2013 that Microsoft was paying some developers $100,000 each to port their apps to Windows Mobile. The article hints that was how Pandora & Temple Run ended up on Windows Mobile. https://www.theverge.com/2013/6/15/4433082/microsoft-paying-companies-100k-windows-phone-apps https://www.theverge.com/2013/6/15/4433082/microsoft-paying-...
donarb 9y ago
That's probably where those ads on Craigslist coding gigs come from. "I'll pay you $100 or split the equity for my cool new app idea!"
Consultant32452 9y ago
That certainly wasn't the only program. MSFT paid cost for my mobile dev company to port games, because we had an established brand on iOS/Android. $100 for whatever random college students come up with seems very reasonable.

wlesieutre 9y ago

Hey, if you're optimizing for "number of apps on our store" I bet it worked great! Why spend $100,000 developing something one app when you could get 1000 for the same price?!

zuminator 9y ago
Instead of paying per app, would make more sense to let devs keep 90% of store revenue, which would incentivize the development of apps that are actually popular and make money.
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  Hell, let developers keep 100% of store revenue, at least until you have a customer base. It's not much worse for MS than 90%, and it makes a much nicer marketing story if you're trying to convince developers to get on your platform.
ssully 9y ago
It was a slight eye opener for me as a student at the time getting near graduation. The part of the workshop going through the app submittal and approval process was actually really interesting, but when it became clear that the bigger effort was to boost app numbers in the store things felt really dirty. Either way that experience always comes up for me whenever people talk about the low quality of apps on the Windows store.
dabockster 9y ago
> "We have millions more apps than the competition." > leaves out the fact that 99% of them are either web wrappers or low quality games This is why we have confounding factors, kids.
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  Even with paying out this money for shovelware they never matched up to Apple's app store numbers. I had a Surface Pro 3 at the time and there were maybe 10 apps worth using on a touchscreen. Eventually gave up and sold it to get a Mac and iPad.

SyneRyder 9y ago

They tried that too. The Verge reported in 2013 that Microsoft was paying some developers $100,000 each to port their apps to Windows Mobile. The article hints that was how Pandora & Temple Run ended up on Windows Mobile. https://www.theverge.com/2013/6/15/4433082/microsoft-paying-companies-100k-windows-phone-apps https://www.theverge.com/2013/6/15/4433082/microsoft-paying-...

donarb 9y ago

That's probably where those ads on Craigslist coding gigs come from. "I'll pay you $100 or split the equity for my cool new app idea!"

Consultant32452 9y ago

That certainly wasn't the only program. MSFT paid cost for my mobile dev company to port games, because we had an established brand on iOS/Android. $100 for whatever random college students come up with seems very reasonable.