Microsoft is recruiting mobile application developers to submit their creations to its forthcoming Windows Marketplace For Mobile, and it's apparently focusing on the frustrations App Store developers have encountered in dealing with Apple's murky approval process.
Microsoft is recruiting mobile application developers to submit their creations to its forthcoming Windows Marketplace For Mobile, and it's apparently focusing on the frustrations App Store developers have encountered in dealing with Apple's murky approval process.
In a promotional cartoon for Microsoft's Race To Market Challenge (
http://www.mobilethisdeveloper.com/#meteor=F3Q74zZrPLz) contest, an eager young developer brings his app into an establishment that looks very much like an Apple Store, only to have it summarily rejected by a staff member wearing a smarmy, 'buh-bye' smile.
At the same time, a voiceover delivers the following advice that sounds for all the world like a thinly veiled dig at Apple: "If you want your app to do well, you've got to set it up for success. That means learning from experience, knowing when you could do better."
With Windows Marketplace For Mobile, which will open this fall when Windows Mobile 6.5 devices start hitting the market, Microsoft believes it can one-up the App Store by giving developers clearer guidelines for mobile application submissions.
Todd Brix, senior director of product management for Microsoft Mobile Services, told Channelweb.com in July that Microsoft will endeavor to provide as much clarity as possible around Windows Marketplace For Mobile rejections, giving developers a detailed report showing where their application failed and outlining what steps they need to take to fix it.
"We want to give people guidance on what it takes to get in and what's allowed and not allowed. This gives them an idea of what bar they need to pass before they invest the time and money in development," Brix said in a July interview.
Microsoft may have found a competitive angle in mobile applications, but it faces a long, uphill climb toward making up meaningful ground on the App Store, which has served up 1.5 billion downloads and is sparking runaway sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The effects of slow Windows Mobile development are becoming more obvious by the day. Windows Mobile 7, which Microsoft has said will put it on equal footing with the rest of the smartphone industry, is behind schedule and won't arrive until 2010 at the earliest. Given Windows Mobile 6.5's repeated delays, it wouldn't be crazy speculation to suggest that Windows Mobile 7 could slip even further.
However, Microsoft isn't ready to concede defeat. Last month, Steven Hegenderfer, group product manager of Windows Mobile, said the mobile applications industry is still in its infancy and there are still plenty of opportunities left to be mined.
"Anyone [who] thinks that Apple is going to run this thing, they are sorely mistaken," Hegenderfer said at the Casual Connect gaming conference in Seattle.
