

Windows 8 store apps pass 20,000 mark, almost 18,000 are free - Reltair
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/11/22/windows-8-store-adds-7000-apps-in-two-weeks-to-pass-20000-mark-almost-18000-are-free/

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jeswin
I find the colored tiles in the store very difficult to skim through.
[https://twitter.com/TDUupdaterHD/status/271344469108989952/p...](https://twitter.com/TDUupdaterHD/status/271344469108989952/photo/1)

In other app stores, the white background lets you navigate quickly, as a
simple list with icons.

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dmix
I know it's a tired cliche to bash Microsoft for poor UI design, but those
small multi-color squares plus horizontal scrolling?

Wasn't there someone at some level in the company who could point out how
unusable that is?

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mkr-hn
I know it's hard to conceive, but you might not be the target market.
Microsoft probably has people testing these things. I have no trouble skimming
it.

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danenania
Testing won't necessarily help when there's a complete lack of design
sensibility. Tests can be poorly framed and misinterpreted. This ui fails on
basic ux and design principles.

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jeswin
Exactly. Even scrolling issues aside, how this is easier than black on white
(with colored icons) is beyond me. Aesthetically, it looks like crap.

It is one of those things that can't be explained so well though.

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zmmmmm
I think Microsoft needs to be careful about playing a numbers game here - even
while what you hear quoted all the time about these app stores is numbers,
it's the quality and depth of those apps that matters to the end users.
Android has a decent number of tablet optimized apps now, but _still_ not one
of the half dozen word processors is what I would call high quality, and
nearly all of them are ugly. What will make the platform - and what I believe
made iOS such a winner on tablets - is that the apps people experienced
delighted them. They were beautiful, extremely high quality, well performing.
Things you _wanted_ to show to your friends, and you _wanted_ to pay for. I
get a feeling Microsoft is very focused on inflating the store numbers,
getting the widest coverage of apps they can on there. But if they are doing
that at the expense of quality - so that consumer's first experience of the
apps they try do not delight them - that will actually be the downfall of it.

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hessenwolf
Word processors - which one is good that isn't Microsoft Word, remind me?

OO is grotesque and slow.

Google docs, for the ease of simultaneous editing is fucking awesome (I just
watched 4 people simultaneously update our Saturday thanksgiving meal
spreadsheet), but the functionality is pretty basic and clumsy to access.

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naich
To be fair, Word isn't that great either. I spend a lot of time shouting at it
and for about 95% of the things I do, Google Docs is absolutely fine and not
tied to a specific computer. It has become my default word processor.

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hessenwolf
Yes. You have a point. It requires a lot of yelling.

I've just realised I like Excel, for what it is. I feel dirty. Maybe this week
has been too long.

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clarky07
So many free apps. There must be some secret I'm missing. My free apps that
I've tried just haven't made as much as paid.

Note: I haven't made any games with consumable IAP. Other app types with
upgrades and ad removal.

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zmmmmm
I would strongly suspect it means many of the apps were funded or sponsored by
Microsoft?

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drivebyacct2
Microsoft funded 20,000 apps? Really?

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zmmmmm
It wouldn't surprise me if they funded 5,000 at least. Why wouldn't you if you
were in their shoes? I think not doing that was one of Google's greatest
mistakes with Android.

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kenjackson
How does this compare to the number of tablet-specific apps for Android?

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Derbasti
Interesting point.

However, what I would _really_ like to know is the number of non-trivial apps.
Sadly, that is impossible to count. But every platform has its equivalent to
fart apps that add no value to the platform whatsoever.

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ggk
Does the free/paid ratio tells us (developer) that the windows8 app market
will be more similar to Android than the apple app store?

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Encosia
On the other hand, Angry Birds Space and Star Wars are more expensive in the
Windows Store than on the iOS App Store (though I only checked on my iPhone,
not on my iPad), and a ton of the top iOS apps these days are free but make
their money through in app purchases. At this point, I just assume that an app
that's free on iOS is going to annoy me to death with in app purchase gameplay
mechanics and nags.

