The message by Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Windows Web Services, Antoine Leblond, during today’s Windows Store event in San Francisco was very clear for developers – we want you to have “a bigger bite of the apple”.
Along with delivering news about the upcoming debut of the Windows Store alongside the Windows 8 Beta in late February of next year he also demoed several aspects of the new store and discussed benefits for developers.
Some of those highlights included:
- A revenue model that allows a developers apps to earn 80 percent of every dollar of revenue earned after exceeding $25,000 USD in total revenue and 70% revenue share on the first $25,000 earned.
- Debuting alongside the Windows 8 Beta in late February 2012, the Windows Store will invite developers to begin submitting apps starting today through the First Apps Contest to be considered for the Store’s opening. More details on the contest can be found at buildwindowscontest.com.
- Huge opportunities as Windows presents the largest single platform opportunity for developers, with 500 million Windows 7 licenses sold around the world to date.
- The goals of the Windows Store app certification process are to ensure trusted, quality experiences for consumers and a simple, transparent process for developers through the App Certification Kit, Windows Developer Dashboard and the Windows Store App Certification requirements which are here.
- Microsoft respects developer choice, and will offer a robust transaction platform while allowing them to utilize alternate transaction services. This means Microsoft will not restrict in app purchasing and subscriptions. The Windows Store will also support multiple advertising platforms.
- The Windows Store will be global, enabling developers to sell their apps in any of 231 markets and in more than 100 languages.
- App discoverability and promotion are top priorities in the Windows Store with the benefits of app listing pages, trial periods and search with Bing and promotion through Internet Explorer.
If some of this sounds very familiar it is because many of these same opportunities are present in the Windows Phone 7 platform and Windows Phone Marketplace. Based on the info shared at the Build Conference back in September it will also be easier for developers to get their apps working on all of Microsoft’s major platforms (Xbox, Windows Phone and Windows 8).
Huge opportunities are heading developers way when it comes to Microsoft platforms.