Microsoft App Store slows down

Computer Store News: Microsoft has launched a campaign to successfully pay $100 per app to developers of the Windows Phone Store or Windows Store. In this regard, some analysts believe that Microsoft's launch of this activity is mainly due to the slow growth of its app store, while the growth of the app store slowed down and seriously dragged down the sales of Windows 8 and Windows RT devices.

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A few days ago, Microsoft launched a new marketing campaign in the United States, the company will submit applications to Windows by June 30th. Developers of the Phone Store or Windows Store pay $100 per app. Developers can submit apps to both stores at the same time, with up to 10 apps per store, so each developer can earn up to $2,000 in app development rewards. In this regard, some analysts believe that Microsoft's launch of this activity is mainly due to the slow growth of the company's app stores.

Mobile industry analyst Sameer Singh said in a blog on Friday, "The Windows 8 app store is growing at only 10-15% per month." In response, Microsoft launched a campaign to reward developers who successfully publish apps in the Windows Store for $100. ”

It is reported that the event called “Keep the Cash” was officially launched on Tuesday. All applications must meet the usual application certification requirements, developers must develop applications based on a purpose, rather than just launching a web page. Derivative versions of previously released applications are not included in this activity. This cash reward is limited to the first 10,000 eligible apps submitted to the app store by June 30th.

Singer uses data from MetroStore Scanner to measure the growth of the Windows 8 app store, while MetroStore Scanner relies heavily on Wes Miller, an analyst with market research firm Directions on Microsoft. The invented algorithm relies on it. According to MetroStore Scanner, the growth rate of the Windows 8 app store has slowed significantly since the 52% increase in December, and the growth rate slowed to 10% in January and 9% in February. The growth rate so far is 12%. As of today, there are nearly 50,000 apps in the Windows Store.

In fact, there are several reasons behind the Windows Store’s spurt in December last year, including consumer interest in the just-launched Windows 8, and Microsoft’s own push efforts have also contributed to this situation. one of the reasons. In September last year, Charlie Kindel, general manager of the Microsoft Windows Phone Developer Experience Division, said that Microsoft hopes that developers will develop applications for the Windows Store in their spare time.

Jindel revealed that Microsoft has used this strategy in the past to increase the number of Windows Phone 7 applications. “If Microsoft's own engineers do take the time to develop Windows Store applications, this can only last for a short time. Because in the long run, they don't have much time to develop applications for the Windows Store. Once you lose this artificial boost, it’s even harder for the Windows Store to increase the number of apps. Kinder said.

Singer believes that the “Keep the Cash” campaign is directly related to the slowdown in the Windows Store. He said in an email: "The timing of the launch of the event indicates that it has a connection with the slowdown in the growth of the Windows Store. ”

Vicious circle

There is no doubt that the slowdown in the number of Windows Store apps will put Windows 8 and Windows RT at a very disadvantageous position because Microsoft has been The hope of successful operating systems lies in the ecological environment of modern applications. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer even personally advertised the huge sales of Windows 8 devices to developers in an attempt to attract them to develop more applications for Windows 8.

Since the rapid growth in December last year, the growth rate of the Windows App Store has fallen sharply. In the first three months of 2013, the growth in the number of applications in this store has dropped by 8%-12%. In this regard, Singer said, "Microsoft has felt the pressure due to the slowdown in Windows app store growth and the sluggish sales of Windows 8 and Windows RT hardware."

Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, a market research firm, said: “This line has become its biggest enemy, because the industry is always based on the number of applications. Determine if the app store is popular with consumers. & rdquo;

For this point of view, Miller also agrees. He said: “Although the number of applications is an important indicator of the success of the ecosystem, it is not the most important indicator. People should pay more attention to ‘quality’ in the app store, not just ‘quantity’. Singer believes that Windows 8 hardware sales are slow because developers are not willing to develop applications for the system, and Windows 8 hardware sales are not all Microsoft's fault, but the company must At present, most PCs do not support touch screens and emphasize the touch characteristics of the system.

He said in an email: "At present, the only truly effective solution to this problem is driven by consumer demand, in other words, higher tablet sales and application demand. Promote developers to develop applications for this platform. However, improving hardware requirements without enough applications is a difficult task. Moreover, support for this pre-application is not a good selling point for new devices, as these devices are not optimized for older applications. ”