It's a nice idea conceptually but it's not addressing their key problem.
Microsoft's problem is that the Android install base is 8x larger and iPhone is 5x larger (1)
I get that they're trying to create an incentive to developers but the reality in mobile is that if you have limited development resources, you develop for iPhone & Android.
The promise of a little extra revenue when you push past $25k feels more like a favor to their big platform devs than it does a compelling reason for smaller devs to look to the Windows platform.
What's interesting is that MSFT gets how to use killer apps to power a platform - remember when they just flat out BOUGHT Bungie to keep HALO an XBOX exclusive?
That move made the platform.
A touch evil and anti-competitive yes, but come on MSFT get more creative about solving this problem.
The "post-PC" world is extremely far off for Corporate America... or Corporate anywhere for that matter. I happen to even believe it's a long ways off for non corporate uses as well.
Important to note that the Corporate World won't be touching the Windows app store with a ten meter cattle prod. IT departments determine what gets installed on all those machines. So all of those massive amounts of users will be irrelevant to Microsoft's app store fortunes.
Microsoft's problem is that the Android install base is 8x larger and iPhone is 5x larger (1)
I get that they're trying to create an incentive to developers but the reality in mobile is that if you have limited development resources, you develop for iPhone & Android.
The promise of a little extra revenue when you push past $25k feels more like a favor to their big platform devs than it does a compelling reason for smaller devs to look to the Windows platform.
What's interesting is that MSFT gets how to use killer apps to power a platform - remember when they just flat out BOUGHT Bungie to keep HALO an XBOX exclusive?
That move made the platform.
A touch evil and anti-competitive yes, but come on MSFT get more creative about solving this problem.
(1)http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/11/...