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

I've never been super impressed with the design of the current Windows Marketplace for Mobile; it loads slowly and feels a bit cumbersome and awkward when compared to the iPhone app store. The Windows phone 7 Marketplace is a radical leap beyond anything we've seen before - it makes the iPhone app store look positively weak in comparison. Damn this looks fine!

At least they have a sense of humour...now if only they could fix the security problems, the fact that they're using SIM-based filtering of applications, and no version yet for the million and millions of Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 phones.

"Microsoft launched its new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system this week at the CTIA Wireless conference (see all stories) in San Diego. The OS includes a refreshed Internet Explorer Mobile, the new My Phone media sync and share service, and a brand new app store called, unceremoniously, Windows Marketplace for Mobile."

C|NET has a quick video about the Windows Marketplace for Mobile - it's hard to say without having used it myself yet, but it looks a bit clumsy compared to the App store experience I've become used to on my iPod Touch. Anyone else have opinions on what using the new Windows Mobile Marketplace is like?

There are a few significant problems with the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile, not the least of which is security from a developers point of view. The idea is that you buy an app from the Marketplace, it installs onto your device, then deletes the CAB file that it downloaded to install itself, and that's that. But what happens if you don't allow the CAB file to be deleted, or find a way to grab it before the process deletes it? More than one person has been able to figure this out, and it's not that difficult apparently. The concern here is, of course, that developers will be reluctant to put their apps onto the Marketplace if they don't feel their investments will be protected.

From a user perspective, knowing that sometimes phones get messed up - and let's not forget the disaster that is ROM updating on the Windows Mobile platform - it's important to keep backups of your applications. I haven't heard anything about a new version of Windows Mobile Device Center that would allow the user to keep a copy of Marketplace applications on their PC. So how exactly does the consumer protect their investment in software? That's a piece of the puzzle that can't be ignored. Ideally I suppose you'd be able to enter your Marketplace ID into the device and be able to re-download all the apps you've purchased...but I don't think it works that way. Anyone with a 6.5 device care to comment? Yeah, this is me not having a clue again because I don't have a 6.5 device to test. <sigh>

"With less than a week until the launch of Windows phones and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, I wanted to take a minute to thank the global developer and ISV community for rallying around Marketplace and offer a quick update on what we've been up to. First and foremost, the response to Windows Marketplace has been impressive in terms of the number of creative developers we're working with and the depth of engineering- and process-oriented feedback we've received and incorporated. Our commitment to transparency has generated a surprising level of collaboration that impacts Marketplace development on a daily basis. I know that getting in on the ground floor of an ambitious effort like Marketplace isn't easy. I sincerely appreciate your patience, feedback and desire to help us create a world class experience for both developers and end users."

If you're a developer who's working on an application for the forthcoming Marketplace, you'll want to check out this blog post. Worth noting is that the Windows Mobile 6/6.1 version of the Marketplace is slated for November. That's a good thing, because having the Marketplace start essentially from zero customers (people who own 6.5 devices) is more than a little short-sighted.

"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.