

A Year Later–The Windows Phone 7 Numbers That Matter - chetangole
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/03/30/a-year-later-the-windows-phone-7-numbers-that-matter.aspx

======
forgotAgain
_The Windows Phone Developer Tools, consisting of Visual Studio Express for
Windows Phone and Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone have been downloaded
over 1.5 million times._

So basically there have been about as many downloads of the developers tools
as there have been phones shipped?

~~~
TomOfTTB
And probably dramatically more than have sold. Though some have questioned it
I still think the Windows Phone Facebook App is a good indicator of how many
phones have been sold.

It's true that you don't have to install that app to use Windows Phone 7. But
Facebook is pretty integral to the Windows Phone 7 experience so the Facebook
App's growth is a good indicator of how well Windows Phone 7 is doing. On
January 26th there were 366,000 users. Today it's 549,042.

------
ja27
I was at a conference last week with 100 developers, at least 50 of which use
mostly Microsoft development tools. A speaker from Microsoft asked who had a
Windows Phone 7 device. He was the only one. Even gadget nuts like me that
carry multiple devices didn't have one.

I know about 6 people that have them, but they're all either Microsoft
employees, Microsoft MVPs, or are married to one.

~~~
TomOfTTB
This, to me, is the problem. I didn't expect Windows Phone 7 to win over
Android or iPhone developers. But if you are a Microsoft developer it's hard
to start developing for Android or the iPhone. Because you have to use a
different language, different tools, a different environment, etc...

Given that I expected Microsoft developers to jump at Windows Phone 7 because
it was an easy way for them to translate their skills to a mobile platform.
But as someone who knows a lot of MS developers they all seem pretty
apathetic. More than anything else that makes me doubt the platform's long
term future.

~~~
nkohari
It's a vicious cycle. If I felt that the platform had a future, I would devote
some of my .NET abilities towards developing for it. But I don't, so I don't
bother.

Just like with the Zune, Microsoft came too late to the party with a
reasonably good product that no one cared about.

------
rbanffy
No sales numbers?

~~~
robin_reala
Apparently that’s not a number that matters.

------
ihumanable
Am I missing something? 11,500 apps and an average of 12 apps per end user.
Those seem like abysmal numbers to me.

According to Appsfire
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/28/appsfire_survey/> the average for iOS
is 88 apps per user, 63 free, 25 paid.

Asymco [http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/16/more-than-60-apps-have-
been...](http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/16/more-than-60-apps-have-been-
downloaded-for-every-ios-device-sold/) puts this number at 60, but still.

This very old report, [http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/10/study-iphone-
users-down...](http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/10/study-iphone-users-
download-average-of-40-apps-android-25-blackberry-14/) puts Android at 25 per
user, which is probably higher now, but I couldn't find any new figures.

~~~
daviddisco
The article said 12 apps per month not 12 apps total.

------
scdc
I noted the "[developer] tools were free, would always be free" line. Why does
Apple charge $99/yr _? Seems like it might be a quality filter. Certainly
doesn't stop the fart apps, but it seems like a nice indicator of "I'm serious
about this." Or maybe it helps cover hosting charges of the free apps? Just
greediness?

_ <http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/>

------
redacted
How do these numbers compare to iOS or Android?

------
Raphael
"12 – Customers love our apps."

