Sorry, But I Don’t Think Developers Should Be Submitting Mango Apps Yet
App submission for Mango Windows Phone applications is open and yesterday Microsoft stated “The time to get your Mango apps into Marketplace is now.” With all due respect, I don’t think that’s a good idea. If you recall, lots of developers got in early when Marketplace was first going live and they were some of the first apps available for Windows Phones. However, by the time Windows Phones were available in the US those initial apps were already ‘old’ and no longer had great visibility. Well history is set to repeat itself.
There’s no category for ‘Mango’ apps in Marketplace (since that could mean fast app switching or using the camera, or a series of other things). So if you have an app that streams satellite music in the background or uses the camera for augmented reality or does something else Mango-y then what do you gain out of submitting it now? There are very few Mango Phones out there (at least relative to the general population of Windows Phone users). And those apps will not be in the ‘new’ category in a month from now when mango is generally available. Getting press about a nifty app now is cool but will people remember that in a month?
Bottom line, I think it makes sense for developers to prepare their Mango apps but only submit them when mango is generally available. That’s my two cents at least. You agree?
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It also alienates the market.
All these apps are becoming available but for most people there is no way to use them. Mango is still potentially 3 months away, these apps may just tempt me to void my warranty.
Was actually thinking the same thing. Im still on NoDo and find myself having to make (incomplete) lists of new Mango apps, not to mention that I’m locked out of updates on several apps now…
Reluctantly agree – until the carriers actually deliver Mango to users, Mango apps are largely going to be unused. It’s great for those of us who somehow adopted early, but MS’ policy to not allow NoDo AND Mango updates to the software is going to hurt more than it helps until Mango starts rolling. If it doesn’t roll quickly, then it’s going to look like NoDo all over again. Of course, part of this is just what happens when the carriers get to approve the release of the OS. Hoping that can change at some point, but not until MS gets some real volume going in sales.
However, I do take some comfort in knowing that fall starts next Friday, according to the calendar. Doubt that Joe meant to imply next week could start seeing Mango, but at least it will technically be Fall and maybe MS can put up another “Where’s my update” type page for Mango.
Thats where iPromoteApps.com comes in : ) It will be live come the first day of fall and will serve as a great secondary way to give developers the exposure they need. Yes, shameless plug by me. : )
I repectfully disagree (at least somewhat)…A good/great/useful/interesting app will always have ‘hype’. The top 3 apps according to Bing’s WP7 app page (http://www.bing.com/browse?g=wp7&qpvt=Windows+Phone+7+Apps) are ones available day one. I am too lazy to verify this, but I think a majority of the top 10 apps are more than 6 months old – not what I’d call ‘fresh’.
The only applications that benefit from the type of visibility are bad ones…Ones that nobody realizes are a stinker because there hasn’t been ratings, word of mouth, reviews, etc.
So, good advice for bad apps, irrelevant for quality apps.
I agree but mostly because once a Mango app is submitted the NoDo version is frozen and no longer can be updated. This can be become problematic with some apps that may break due to no fault of their own (think twitter changing an API or whatnot), then end users have a broken app that the developers can’t do anything about.
So you’re suggest Microsoft launch Windows 8 with absolutely no apps in the Windows Store? That’s a very risky proposition, especially considering the importance of Windows 8 and those apps.
@Joe: Mango is Windows Phone 7.5 and it’s backwards compatible with Windows phone 7 apps. But never apps that take advantage of new APIs are unique to Mango – but that software is only available to developers so far.
I think it’s OK to submit to the fruit. Once the update is rolled out, the apps are there to download immediately.
Ok with the article for new apps, but developpers can at least update their already existing apps (it consists only on changing version and recompiling it)