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Tag: Windows Phone Marketplace

  • Windows Phone Marketplace Gets Improvements

    The Windows Phone Marketplace has proven to be a great place for developers to make bank. Back in April, we reported that indie game developer, FourBros Studios, was pulling in about $1,000 a day from their Windows Phone 7 game. The potential is there for even more success as long as Microsoft keeps up with curation.

    As part of that curation, the Windows Phone team has announced some improvements being made to the Windows Phone Marketplace that should make it easier and faster to developers to get their apps on Windows Phone. The team is hoping to have some major work finished on the marketplace later this summer, but they have some minor improvements that went live yesterday.

    App Hub is the Windows Phone analytics page that lets developers know how their apps are performing. It’s recently been returning time-outs for developers who have extensive app portfolios. Microsoft has improved the performance of App Hub to hopefully deal with the problem. They claim that time-outs should now be a thing of the past.

    A big fix has addressed the problems with unlocked phones. Developers may receive an unlocked phone to develop on at an event that was unlocked by another account. In prior cases, it was found that only the App Hub account originally associated with the unlock could renew the phone. Updated rules now allow developers to register a previously unlocked phone to their own App Hub account to avoid any frustration in the future.

    Windows Phone is riding the coattails of another Microsoft product that should more developers in more nations bring in those sweet advertising dollars. Microsoft Advertising announced that pubCenter would be coming to 17 new markets which also means that that those 17 new markets will be able to bring in advertising dollars through Windows Phone apps. The new markets comprise various countries throughout South America, Eastern Europe and Asia.

    All these are great, but mean little if app publishing times are slow. Fortunately, Microsoft has managed to improve those as well. The time it takes for an app to appear on the Marketplace after being submitted has been decreased by about 30 percent which means that it now only takes about three to four business days.

    Microsoft has the most to prove out of the major players in the smartphone business. The fact that they’re willing to push out incremental updates as they occur while working on a much larger overhaul signify that the company at least cares about getting developers on board and publishing apps for Windows Phones. I like to think that apps are a major selling points for smartphones these days and Windows Phone needs to kick it up a notch to compete with Android and iOS.

  • Mobile Photosynth Released for Windows Phone

    Microsoft Photosynth made a big impression when it was released four years ago. The photo-stitching software allows users to create 360-degree panoramas and “synths” by putting together many photos of a location. It turns out that Microsoft has been quietly working on the technology ever since its release, and today the company is announcing the Photosynth app for Windows Phone.

    The announcement came on the Bing blog, where the Bing Team showed off the app’s features. Photosynth for Windows Phone will allow users to stitch together panoramas in the same way the iOS Photosynth app does. From the blog post:

    Sometimes a single photo – even a wide angle photo – doesn’t do a place justice. Whether it’s the view off a cliff, or inside an incredible cathedral, we’ve all been to places that cry out for a full 360 panorama. Photosynth is the only mobile app that can stitch a full sphere. That’s 360 degrees horizontally and vertically.

    Creating a panorama is as easy as starting up the app and slowly pointing the camera in every direction, including the floor and ceiling. The app will show which parts of the panorama still need coverage, and will automatically stitch the photos together.

    After creating a panorama, users will want to share it, and the Photosynth app has no shortage of social sharing options. Users can publish panoramas on the Photosynth website or on Bing, where they can be integrated with Bing Maps. Panoramas can also be shared via Twitter and to Facebook.

    Photosynth is free in the Windows Phone Marketplace and will run on any phone with Windows Phone 7.5 and above. The Photosynth App has also been available for iOS devices for some time, and can be downloaded through the Apple App Store.

  • LinkedIn Launches an App For Windows Phone

    LinkedIn, the effective social network for professional networking has officially launched a version of its mobile app for Windows Phone. The app provides much of the same functionality that the Android and iPhone apps provide, allowing users to access their stream, find and connect with other professionals, search for jobs, and read industry news. The app can be downloaded for free in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

    As you can see in the picture above, the new Windows Phone app does not share the navigation scheme or look of either its iPhone or Android siblings. Instead, LinkedIn opted to use the Metro-style look of a Windows Phone app. Users will navigate through the app using large blue tiles and buttons.

    Tomer Cohen, a mobile product manager at LinkedIn, announced the app launch over at the LinkedIn blog:

    We’ve been working hard to make this new LinkedIn app best-in-class in the Windows Phone marketplace. We took advantage of the unique and beautiful Windows Phone metro style design while ensuring users would have easy and quick access to all the relevant professional information they’ve come to rely on from LinkedIn. You’ll find that in some cases (hint: companies and jobs), the Windows Phone app offers even more functionality than its iOS and Android siblings.

    LinkedIn has been focusing on mobile quite a bit lately. It was less than a month ago that their well-received iPad app was launched. The social network’s mobile views have been skyrocketing over the past year, and it even open-sourced its navigation code for its iPhone app. The LinkedIn Windows Phone app looks to be another big, yet graceful step in the company’s quest to make its service as mobile-friendly as possible.

  • Windows Phone Marketplace Losing Zune Software Support

    All the major smartphone operators – Apple, Google and Microsoft – allow users to download apps from the Web or the smartphone itself. Microsoft strangely enough had a third option that allowed users to download Windows Phone 7 apps from the Zune HD store. Probably due to the fact that nobody knows what a Zune is anymore, Microsoft is removing this third option.

    Let’s back up a little bit first though. Microsoft has found through their research that most app users obtain apps via their phones. If that obvious nugget of wisdom didn’t floor you, maybe the fact that the Web portal has become popular as well might do the trick. Again, if you have ever used an Android or iPhone, you know this to be basic app shopping protocol.

    Microsoft decided that it wasn’t worth it to keep the Windows App option open on the Zune store. I’m just surprised that it took them this long to figure out that even Zune users (all three of them) don’t even use the Zune store anymore. Of course, it would be mean to close the entire store, so Microsoft is keeping the Zune HD apps store open.

    Microsoft does want to point out that the Zune software still has a purpose for Windows Phone users. You can use it to install Windows software updates, making backup copies of photos and videos store on your phone, and, of course, buying music.

    Speaking of software updates, Microsoft is soon requiring every Windows Phone to be updated to Windows Phone 7.5 to buy, submit or review apps. Why? It’s all part of an effort to unify the platform. Similar in a way to how the latest version of iOS runs on the last three makes of the iPhone. Now if only Android smartphone manufacturers would roll out official ICS updates to all of us Android 2.3 users.

    In another part of the Windows Phone blogosphere, Todd Brix detailed how the new changes will affect developers. He mentions that “deep links” to apps on the marketplace will need to be changed if they use the zune:// format for links. The proper way to link to your app is http://windowsphone.com/s?appId={GUID}.

    The same post also revealed that Microsoft has released the OS software required to bring Marketplace to smartphone users in Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, UAE and Vietnam. This allows developers in these regions to officially start developing apps for Windows Phone as well as setting up hardware manufacturers to start selling Windows Phones to the people of these countries.

  • Skype for Windows Phone Officially Released

    A finalized version of the Skype app for Windows Phones has finally been released. A beta version of the app has been available since February, but this official release brings with it a few features that optimize the app for use on smartphones. Derek Snyder, Head of Mobile Marketing for Skype, writes on Skype’s The Big Blog:

    Since releasing the initial beta app in February, we have received very positive and helpful feedback that has allowed us to improve the app. Additionally, we have added some new features including video calling in portrait mode and friend management capabilities including invite, accept invitations, block, and unblock contacts.

    Skype is available as a free download from the Windows Phone Marketplace. Take a look at the video below to get a feel for how the app works. It’s exactly the same video and demonstration as the video for the beta version, just with a new intro and outro:

    Both video and voice calls can be made over Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G connections. This is essential, as other video calling apps also allow calls over data connections. One of those competitors, Tango, has been gaining support and already has a Windows Phone version of its app. Tango also has features Skype does not, such as video messaging and emote animations.

    What do you think? Will you be using Skype on your Windows Phone or are they too late to the party? Is the market for Windows Phone apps large enough that Skype should even have bothered? Let me know in the comments below.

  • Netflix For Windows Phone Gets Update

    Netflix For Windows Phone Gets Update

    Netflix has rolled out a new update to their Windows Phone app. The app includes several fixes and improvements and support for the app in almost fifty new countries.

    The biggest feature of the new version of Netflix for Windows Phone is its expanded availability. Netflix has been available on Windows Phone devices in the US and Canada since late 2010. As of today, it’s also available in the UK, Ireland, and 47 countries in Latin America. Along with the expanded availability, Netflix for Windows Phone adds localized user interfaces for all of the countries in which the app is available. It also adds subtitles, closed captioning, and alternate audio for all of the new countries.

    Netflix for Windows Phone

    Netflix for Windows Phone

    Netflix for Windows Phone requires Windows Phone 7.5 or better. It’s available as a free download from the Windows Phone Marketplace, though a Netflix streaming subscription is, of course, required.

    Do you have the new Netflix for Windows Phone? What do you think of the update? Let us know in the comments.

  • 50,000 Apps Now In Windows Phone Marketplace

    Once upon a time, Windows-based phones were a solid participant in the smartphone market, back in the days when Blackberry reigned supreme and Apple made Macs and iPods. Since the launch of the iPhone, however, Microsoft’s smartphone market share has suffered considerably. With the launch of the Windows Phone 7 operating system last year, however, Microsoft began making its way back into the market. Since then, the phone has carved out a respectable niche for itself.

    Now, All About Windows Phone has released some interesting data concerning the Windows Phone Marketplace. It seems the Microsoft’s app store hit a major milestone last week: over 50,000 have now been submitted to the Windows Phone Marketplace (though not all are available for download in all markets).

    Content of the Windows Phone Marketplace

    It seems that a large part of this growth has come in the last month. While it took a full year to reach 40,000 apps, the final 10,000 were submitted in the last month.

    Apps Added to the Windows Phone Marketplace

    Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this data is how it stacks up against other mobile app stores. All About Windows Phone compared the Windows Phone Marketplace’s growth to that of four other markets: the iOS App Store, the Android App Market, Symbian, and BlackBerry. Of the four, only Apple reached 50,000 apps faster than Windows Phone. While it took Windows Phone about 13 months to get to 50,000, Apple got there just a couple months faster. Meanwhile, Android took over a year and a half to get to the same point, while Symbian and BlackBerry took well over two years each.

    Months to get to 50K

    This suggests that while Windows Phone’s market share is still quite small (late this summer Gartner’s research showed it at 1.6%), Windows Phone is seen as a viable platform for app developers. If that’s so, then we can probably expect to see Windows Phone continue to grow, perhaps to the point of becoming a solid competitor for Apple and Android phones.

    What do you think? Can Windows Phone challenge Apple and Android? Let us know in the comments.