re: What Microsoft can learn from the Apple Application store

quikboy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:22:28 GMT

I definitely agree that WinMo could use a dedicated App Store on their devices. Most of the applications I hear for WinMo are word-by-mouth, and sometimes it can be difficult hunting and pecking around a site to find what you're looking for.

The closest thing Microsoft offers, is called "Windows Mobile Catalog" on the official Windows Mobile site (hidden link), and the store isn't really good. A lot of the applications 'look' cruddy, a lot of them you have to pay for (with links to 3rd party sites!), and the experience is far from rewarding. Also, sometimes there's obscure requirements, and not every WinMo phone will have them.

I'm guessing that there's not a lot of official apps for WinMo, because WinMo just isn't that friendly to develop or use apps for. Most screens on WinMo phones I've seen are QVGA or just plain small, and there's not a lot of flexibility to offer on such a small screen. It's a good thing HTC is smart to offer bigger screens on their latest phones, as well as good customized apps and skin for WinMo, or else your average consumer wouldn't want a WinMo phone.

WinMo needs a ton of work to be "consumer-friendly" instead of business-friendly. An Apps Store is just one of them.

re: What Microsoft can learn from the Apple Application store

Surur — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:50:35 GMT

Quote:

First, it felt like I was browsing the PalmGear site where 50+ Palm OS calculators were available to download as I saw several different versions of the same type of application, some for free and some commercial. For examply, there are at least 9 Blackjack games, 9 task/to-do list apps, 11 Bible apps, 5 games with Bubble in the title, 8 weather apps, and 10 tip calculator apps (how many of these do we really need?). I encourage variety and development of applications, but I personally expected Apple to keep a bit of a lid on the number of repetitive applications. With over 550 applications currently in the store I think having so many may lead to a bit of frustration on the part of the consumer trying to find the best application in a certain category.

As I said earlier, it is a bit overwhelming going through page after page of iPhone applications. Each individual ebook is available for 99 cents and is shown as an individual application. Why doesn’t Apple just have an ebook category to make things easier to find? There appear to be a ton of rather useless utilities (IMHO) that I wish weren’t even shown in the store, but maybe they will appeal to one or two people. I know the same thing can be said for S60 and Windows Mobile where there are also a ton of the same rather useless utilities, but I guess I expected Apple to only have the best stuff in their App Store and am a bit surprised at the applications I am seeing in the store.

blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer

Great experience, isnt it. With no trials, after consumers get burned a few times they will soon stop buying software.