Ballmer: we’re going to launch a Windows Mobile App Store
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shocked folks at a recent event in Australia by confirming rumors that the Redmond giant would soon be following the Apple business model of opening an App Store to offer Windows Mobile programs direct to customers. Ballmer went on to confuse the audience with his contention that the Apple App Store is not making any developers much money:
"[They've] made it easier to kind of get exposure for yourapplications," Ballmer continued. "There’s not much money being made,but the general concept of giving developers a way not only to gettheir code distributed, but to really get visibility for the code, is agood idea."
Last I heard Apple was selling programs hand-over-fist and developers were indeed making a fair coin for their efforts so I think Ballmer is down-playing that a little bit. At the end of the day a Microsoft App Store will not make a bit of difference anyway. There are already a number of retail outlets for Windows Mobile wares so this will just be another one. Unlike the Apple App Store, which was the first and only outlet for iPhone apps, there is no compelling reason for WM customers to only shop at the MS store. Let’s face it the ONLY place you can buy iPhone apps is the Apple App Store so they have a built-in advantage over this MS store. That’s kind of the business model, isn’t it?
It’s time for Ballmer to either shut up or leave. People like to talk about how Microsoft is out of touch with consumers. Well, the tone coming from the top is to cover your ears and loudly declare yourself the winner.
It’s one thing to inspire shareholder confidence by downplaying the success of a competitor. It’s an entirely different thing to admit in the same breath that the company’s next investment is a waste of their money. The board needs to stage an intervention here before Steve completely self-destructs.
After several months, I have a feeling that he’s going to withdraw his support from the app store and triumphantly declare that all app stores, including Apple’s, are unprofitable. As proof, he’ll eagerly point to the dismal sales figures from the WinMo store. See?
Oh microsoft.
Quit being so stupid…
~Spyked~
ChiYokLown
Regardless of the money being made, the end-to-end integration of the app store makes it easy for n00bs to find apps. That is missing in WinMo and that is why MSFT will do this.
Is Microsoft’s official game plan simply to copy everything Apple does? Sure seems that way. Kind of pathetic.