Sep 12, 2012

Tech News: It’s ‘Out With the Old and In With the New’, with New Windows Phone Dev. Center

As Microsoft continues to break into the smartphone market, the Windows creator recently announced the debut of their Windows Phone Dev. Center for Window Phone developers. In a Windows blog post, Ash Wahi, Windows program manager for Dev Center, described the site as an “evolution” from their retired App Hub developer portal. Wahi says the Dev Center is, “designed to provide everything you need to build, publish, and manage apps for Windows Phones around the world.” It seems as if a change was much needed for Windows Phone development since their smartphone continues to lag behind Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. In April, Nokia released its first quarter earnings for 2012 and reported that more than 2 million Lumia devices (Windows Phone) were sold. However, Nokia noted in the release that “multiple factors negatively affected Nokia’s Devices and Services business to a greater extent than previously expected.” According to Nokia, factors included: - “Competitive industry dynamics, which negatively affected net sales in the Mobile Phones and Smart Devices business unit.” - “Gross margin declines, particularly in the Smart Devices business unit.” Meanwhile, Information Week reported Google’s and Apple’s second quarter of 2012 stating: “Google’s smartphone platform shipped 68.1 percent of all smartphones sold during the second quarter of the year…Apple’s iOS is a distant second, with shipments of 26 million units in the most recent quarter.” As it’s reported in the numbers, the Windows Phone is not even close in the amount of units shipped compared to those of Google’s and Apple’s. Microsoft is hoping to appeal to more developers with their new Windows Phone Dev Center with Wahi saying, “It has new features to help make Windows Phone app development faster and more profitable.” Developers can now register in four times as many countries, and get paid in three times as many regions, said Wahi. Due to high demand, PayPal is now available as well, so users can both get paid and pay for their developer account. Per developers’ request, all features have been streamlined allowing for edits to be made easier and thus, saving users’ time. Additionally, developers can now track app downloads and performance with the new analytics tool. Depending on purchase type – Free, Paid, Trial, and Beta – users can see the number of downloads and receive a monthly report of payouts with the new My Money tool. Meanwhile, infrastructure changes, as stated by Wahi, will “help reduce the latency of the app downloads report.” Wahi continued, saying users will begin to notice the improvements in the weeks and months ahead. Windows Phone Dev Center is available for use on Windows Phone 7.5, or earlier. Although Windows Phone 8 is due for launch in the fall, the current Windows Phone will not be available for upgrade. Instead, The Guardian reports existing phones would get an “interim” version of Windows Phone – 7.8 – which would bring a number of core elements from Windows Phone 8 to older devices; according to Greg Sullivan, senior product manager for Windows Phone.