Windows Apps

[Erik]

Well.. I’m back!

I know you all use Linux but have any of you created an app for Windows phones?

[__]

I assume you mean a native app? Nope.
Been to the source yet?

[shaneisme]

No money in it haha

Maybe in the Windows 10 world it would make sense (if they pull it off). You’d have an app that could run in desktop, phone, xbox, etc…

[Erik]

So.. for now don’t waste my time….

[nixnerd]

Honestly dude… I don’t see the point in building native apps. I’ve never even attempted one and probably won’t ever. I feel that there’s a dangerous combination of market saturation and fragmentation going on. It’s like stagflation. I think that ship has sailed.

I think it’s most sensible to build apps for the web and actually realize the potential of “Write once, deploy everywhere.” With new tools like Node… it’s finally becoming a reality because the performance is starting to be there. Once everyone is on fiber and other super fast connections, web will DEFINITELY be king.

I know technically native apps are winning the battle right now. But, I think they will go the way of the dinosaur.

I just read an article about a guy who developed REALLY nice looking iOS apps. They were definitely HIGH quality. He sunk 3 years of his life into this endeavor and walked away with $7,000. I have no words for how badly that sucks.

[Jimmy]

He sunk 3 years of his life into this endeavor and walked away with $7,000. I have no words for how badly that sucks.

that, good sir, is unreal.

[Alen]

We need access to hardware, that is one advantage of native. We have to rely on browsers implementation of API.

[shaneisme]

Yeah, I don’t think native will go away really…

Native = rich
Web = reach

• Another Luke W. quote

[Alen]

Luke is with Google now. Well his app thingy, Polar.

[nixnerd]

Yeah, I don’t think native will go away really…

Of course it wont totally…

But for the purposes of trying to bootstrap a new company, I feel it already has. And I feel like most people on these forums have that as a goal. I know the owner of a strictly native mobile development agency in my city. I’ve talked to him about what it takes (in terms of money) to develop a first rate app across just Android, iOS and Windows phones. I purposely didn’t even ask about Blackberry or Linux phones because they aren’t HUGE players in the current landscape… although that could change.

Suffice it to say that for a new company with little to no funding, it’s not even really possible. It’s so far beyond what is affordable, it’s absurd. He was throwing out numbers like $500k. Now, could you throw together a prototype and get some funding to “do it right?” Yeah, you could. And plenty of people do. But… be prepared to give up MAD equity for chump change in the early stages. Which… again, isn’t the end of the world. Plenty of companies do it and everything turns out great. As the old adage goes: 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

That being said, I feel like because of the “reach” the web give us… it’s ACTUALLY possible to completely bootstrap a company with little more than seed money. Clean UI + Node + intelligent database = Sell-able product right now.

[nixnerd]

Even if you disagree with everything I said… one simply cannot deny that paying 20-30% percent of your revenue to the App Store or Google Play is cost prohibitive for fledgling companies. It’s highway robbery. Gotta develop for web and fight for net neutrality!

[theacefes]

@Erik, are you looking for monetary gain or knowledge gain with this app?

If you have the bandwidth and the interest, I don’t see anything wrong with writing a small app if you gain some skills and experience in the process. :) If you’re looking for something profitable though, definitely go the web app route, expand to native devices later (or use something like AIR or Phone Gap to port your web app).

And…for anyone interested, I’m a Windows user in a .NET shop and I love it. ;)

[nixnerd]

I don’t see anything wrong with writing a small app if you gain some skills and experience in the process.

I didn’t even consider this as an option. Ha ha. @theacefes is right. If you ware curious about a Windows mobile app… screw it, make one. I dabble in things that will never make any money just for fun. Pretty sure everyone here does to some degree. Do it up @Erik!

[Erik]

Sorry for the delayed response..

Anyway I was looking to build an Windows app for 2 reasons

1. To learn how to do it, still feeling like I’m on that treadmill trying to find my place in the tech world.
2. To make a few bucks… nothing major.

On a side note I asked a Windows app dev from an app I use if Windows apps are profitable and this was his response:

Well, you are quite right about the monetization with regards to Windows App. If you look at the worldwide market share of all the smartphone OS, you will see that about 85% is Android, 12% is iOS and only about 5% is Windows Phone. So the Windows Phone market share is still very small.

However, Windows Phone OS is the fastest growing eco-system and its a matter of time before it gets a significant share. In many of the European countries and south American countries Windows Phone has more market share than iOS and is rapidly growing elsewhere.

[__]

To learn how to do it, still feeling like I’m on that treadmill trying to find my place in the tech world.

If that’s the case, go for it. But I would highly recommend actually learning the languages (I think Windows apps are mostly C#), and not going the “Windows Apps For Dummies” or “auto-convert your website to a Windows app” route.

[Author]

Posts