Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"We have a bit of troubling news from Windows world today as a developer in attendance at Microsoft's Tech.Ed New Zealand has relayed some interesting tidbits. Regarding the "Windows Marketplace for Mobile" - Microsoft's version of the Apple App Store - Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a ‘kill switch' for apps. In the event an approved app is later removed from the Marketplace, the app will also automatically be removed from users' handsets. We're not sure what this means for paid apps, though we doubt refunds will be issued automatically as well"

Boy Genius report is skeptical that refunds would be given if MS decided to drop the app kill hammer, however other reports such as this quote given to Ars Technica seem to contradict this strongly:

"In the rare event an application from Marketplace exhibits harmful behavior or has unforeseen effects, Marketplace has the capability to remotely uninstall these applications. While we hope to avoid this scenario, we will make refunds available in such cases."

So yes, there is a kill switch, but no - users who buy something that gets killed won't be out money. Come on guys - give Microsoft some credit to do the right thing. They aren't Apple after all!

"For many (if not most) iPhone developers, the App Store's overheated competition and bloated inventory have led to scorched-earth pricing that makes it virtually impossible to parlay mobile development into a valid for-profit business model without turning to subscriptions or in-app advertising.... "I know, 99 cents is interesting -- yes, consumers like to pay 99 cents for applications," admits Microsoft's Loke Uei, "but 99 cents, come on, I think your app is worth more than that."

The Apple iPhone App store has been one of the things that has radically changed the mobile phone market, but as it grew to 50,000 apps or so, it was pretty obvious that there is just some crap in there. Sometimes less is more and a well maintained library is better and more useful than one that just has everything you can possibly throw in it. Microsoft apparently feels the same way and is going to try and keep the menu respectable and manageable.

Do you think 99 cents is ok for the majority of apps, or should Microsoft encourage more reasonable price structures that would allow developers to make some money and make it worth their time to spend more energy on improving their apps.

I received an email today from PocketGear announcing their new App Store for Windows Mobile, and my first thought was "This would have been great two years ago." But now? Every major platform (Apple, RIM, Android, Symbian) either has an app store or will have one soon, so for PocketGear to do this now smacks of bad timing - everyone knows it's just a matter of time until Microsoft releases their own app store. However, in the here and now, PocketGear has you covered with their app store, boasting 950+ Supported Devices, 1000+ Developers, 1000+ Games, and 2500+ Total Apps. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think...

"The Software Store has gone mobile. Browse and download over 5,000 apps & games right from your Palm device. Plus, there are over 1,000 free apps to choose from. The mobile software store supports over 25 Palm devices1, from the Centro to the Treo Pro."

If you have a Palm device, be it PalmOS or Windows Mobile, Palm has created an application store you can browse, purchase and download directly from your device. There is a link for PalmOS and Windows Mobile devices to download the store application. I've not tried it to see if it verifies your Windows Mobile device is really from Palm.