New Windows App Solution
Microsoft has gaspingly proclaimed many new game titles for Windows Phone eight. And yet again, Redmond continues to foil.
But then, we’re accustomed it. once Microsoft command its Windows Phone eight launch event in Oct last year, the news felt improbably stale. Jessica Alba created Associate in Nursing look. chief executive officer Steve Ballmer showed US his begin Screen. We’d already glimpsed the company’s latest smartphone OS at its initial unveiling in June, and it took the spotlight at Nokia’s and HTC’s phone announcements in Gregorian calendar month. there have been no surprises.
Except one.
“There is one app we have a tendency to needed to announce, however we have a tendency to couldn’t work it on the slide. We’re getting to provides it its own slide!” Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s manager of Windows Phone, exclaimed. individuals started whispering concerning Instagram. Did Microsoft finally score a heavy-hitting app? One that will truly woo individuals faraway from iOS and humanoid phones?
“Get prepared for Pandora for Windows Phone eight, that we’ll have prepared for early 2013!” Belfiore proclaimed.
You could feel the area deflate. and extremely very little has modified within the four months since. Pandora finally launched this month, and alternative apps have trickled in. however none are the sort that cause you to need to change to a Windows Phone. keen about Instagram? Not getting to work for you. need to do out Vine? You can’t. however concerning play your favorite game? Yes! Finally! Well, no. Not really.
Microsoft on Wed proclaimed six new game titles touch Windows Phone eight. And all over again, it’s Associate in Nursing disappointing list. It includes sixth Planet, Propel Man, Temple Run, Orcs should Survive, Fling Theory, Drift Mania Championship two, and Ruzzle. Of the six apps, solely Temple Run and Ruzzle ar within the high twenty five games on iOS and humanoid. And Windows Phone isn’t obtaining Temple Run two or Temple Run: Oz, the newest hits. No, the most effective it may do is that the original, that has been around nearly 2 years.
Cue unhappy brass. Wamp wamp.
That’s the shame of Microsoft. Windows Phone eight could be a gorgeous software. it's matured in practicality since Windows Phone seven, and it's terribly simple to use. Microsoft has quality hardware partners, too. Nokia’s Lumia 920 is powerful, with a surprising camera, and HTC’s 8X is one in every of the sleekest, prettiest phones accessible. As hardware, each will vie with the newest from Apple and Samsung.
The accessible third-party software package is another story, Associate in Nursingd Microsoft’s core problem: Windows Phone eight has an app scheme weaker than store low. Today’s game announcement shows simply however so much behind it's. Microsoft is continuation the debacle of its Windows Phone launch announcement, once everyone needed (and expected) Instagram and got Pandora instead. Now, once everyone is expecting Temple Run: Oz or Candy Crush heroic tale, we’re obtaining a couple of recent or mediocre (or recent and mediocre) games. It’s a repeat of once Microsoft proclaimed that Draw one thing had return to the Windows Phone Store, long once the Draw one thing craze had passed. The crowds ar gone. All that’s left could be a lonely app.
The Windows Phone Store is simply getting down to appear as if what the App Store did 2 years agone. That’s a retardant. Windows Phone goes down a overwhelmed path, one iOS and humanoid have long forgotten. rather than sprinting ahead, the corporate appearance additional and additional sort of a poorly equipped used shop. Worse, Microsoft is making an attempt to bill its app releases as one thing “new.” It needs you to assume these refurbished-for-Windows Phone games and apps mean its store is on par with the App Store or Google Play, and its phones compare to the most effective iOS and humanoid handsets.
The level of delusion would be funny if it weren’t thus desperate. Belfiore spent the last week teasing Twitter followers concerning new Windows Phone apps. “Been speculative concerning a number of the apps I’ve been victimization on my phone? this can be an honest week to seek out out! first answer comes within the morning,” he wrote. the solution was Pandora. Sure, it’s an honest app. There’s ad-free, unlimited music listening through 2013! however it’s boring. Terribly, really boring.
“Bad news: next-fun-app-release delayed many days. Still coming back, simply not these days (Monday). Sorry!” Belfiore same in an exceedingly follow up tweet. however he squelched any worries with another tweet, “Good news: we have a tendency to *could* have another pretty sensible app week here, BTW. laborious to understand that publishers can hit that dates!”
Six truthful to middling games constitutes a fairly sensible week for Microsoft?
The reason you won’t see the newest hits, like King.com’s Candy Crush heroic tale, on Windows Phone is predicated on pure lack of demand. Candy Crush heroic tale holds the No. three position in high free games on iOS and has No. two slot on free games for humanoid. It’s additionally the highest grossing app on iOS. There’s undoubtedly demand for the sport, simply not on Windows Phone.
“When we have a tendency to launched Bubble Witch heroic tale at first on iOS, we have a tendency to had lots of request for Associate in Nursing humanoid version of the sport. it absolutely was a really marked increase in requests,” Alex valley, King.com’s chief selling officer, said. King.com {responded to|skilled|older|more matured|more experienced|more responsible|more established|seasoned|knowledgeable|versed|capable|competent|skillful|well-versed|tried Associate in Nursingd true|gone through|had|undergone|passed through|saw|felt|suffered} the demand by emotional an humanoid version. once the corporate free its second app, Candy Crush heroic tale, on iOS, the humanoid version followed many days later. And Windows Phone?
“We haven’t seen the same wave of requests for Windows Phone,” valley same.
Windows Phone’s app drawback is tough to resolve. It’s a chicken-and-egg quandary that won’t pick up while not force and time. Users need bound apps — Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, Minecraft, as an example — before committing to a brand new platform. Developers desire a bound variety of users and sales before building for a brand new platform. It doesn’t facilitate that Microsoft is employing a proprietary graphics system, effectively making a walled garden nobody needs to travel into.
“To me, it’s Associate in Nursing on trial platform, thus why would we have a tendency to take all the chance if it’s getting to take US $50,000 to rewrite the apps simply to use DirectX [Microsoft's proprietary graphics platform]. It’s Associate in Nursing unknown if we’d recoup that in sales,” same Noodlecake co-founder Jordan Schidlowsky. “The those that I discuss with, and what it sounds like, say that the sale numbers aren’t quite there however. It wouldn’t be profitable for US to travel there.”
Schidlosky additionally acknowledged a strictly technical disadvantage. All of Noodlecake’s games, together with the improbably well-liked maker of the favored Super Stickman Golf and Super Stickman Golf two, ar supported OpenGL, Associate in Nursing open and cross-platform graphics SDK supported by iOS, Android, UNIX system and even BlackBerry. however Windows Phone eight doesn’t support OpenGL. the maximum amount as Microsoft is lowering barriers to entry with its several middleware partners, that doesn’t continually compute for indie game developers like Noodlecake (which additionally happen to create vast, hit games).
Beyond supporting OpenGL, Microsoft must create itself a priority for game developers. It can’t continually play catch up. It should convert game developers that they ought to build for Windows Phone at intervals months, if not weeks, of a game launch. we have a tendency to can’t expect them to develop for Windows Phone 1st, however neither ought to they be doing thus a year or additional later. rather than making an attempt to wow US with yesterday’s hits, Windows Phone wants these days’s hits today.
Give US Temple Run: Oz and Candy Crush heroic tale. provide US the newest from SEGA (Sonic Dash) and movie maker (Wreck-it Ralph). Better yet, provide US the games and apps that we’ll be keen about tomorrow.
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