Microsofts $100 per App is Pathetic, someone needs to get fired.

Posted by MrBrain on March 19, 2013 05:41 pm 61

I can't believe I read the news this morning that its actually offering some minuscule $100 per ANY app submission that isn't a wrapped website or duplicate. How freaking pathetic! Even if they are desperate for apps going about it this way will obviously not yield anything of real value. It should be if they wish to attract apps this way a much larger sum (10 - 30k/80k +) offered for much better apps! Perhaps at $100 per app they want to get children/poor students interested and experimenting with the API, that or they just want to pay out poor indian programmers for flooding the stores with 20, single button, click event triggering apps.

- Good App idea!
click\tap this button as fast as you can to see how many times you clicked in 30 seconds, try to beat your best score!

Is the marketing department at Microsoft still as stupid as to think that consumers care for total app count when they make a purchase or are they trying to create some better article headlines where the app numbers are flaunted? Nobody with an IQ over 85 gives a shit about app numbers anymore, what is important is having good apps. I am sure that for instance 2000 best iOS/Android apps are a far better offering than the whole of Windows, Windows Phone and Blackberry store combined!

Developers are not that keen on targeting the Microsoft stores because they need $100 first, but rather because the Windows RT/8 software lacked market impact and the Windows store is atrocious in implementation. But most importantly is that Microsoft is STILL SETTING ITS CORE API foundations! How sad is that, shortly after Windows 8 launched they announce an upcoming blue update that will be yet another major overhaul to the SDK in such short timespan, so big in fact that they won't even be calling them Windows 8 apps and urge devs to then switch to making "Blue" apps. Why invest time and effort learning and coding against a soon to be obsolete API/SDK.

With every other major CEO now coming out to express their less than favourable opinion on Microsoft recent OS efforts a part of me wonders what's going on in Redmond and who's making the technical, product quality control and design calls there (Obviously not Ballmer). It seems Microsoft is failing to make a solid a platform (operating system, underlying kernel and API's) something they should in fact be leaders at. Did all the talent run away to Google and Apple ? Or are there just some old, holding onto their seats senior staff that still push their set and way of doing things onto the team(s), thus hindering the speed, sophistication and quality of the delivered product.

Want a WTF moment ? Open up the first party metro BING app and search for anything and watch as a rows upon rows of closely stacked indiscernible, horizontally scrolling white tiles form. The app is feature deprived, not to mention nauseatingly boring, rudimentary and awfully designed. I mean who allows first party apps like this to get through to consumers ! And this is suppose to entice me away from going to Goole.com on the web-browser and opt for the built in, first party OS app experience ?