The Apps
The apps, the apps, it’s all about the apps. And how you get developers to build apps for your platform? Make it easy for them.
Apple makes it easy because there’s basically just one device: the iPhone. Android makes it a little more difficult because there are all sorts of different hardware devices running Android. If you’re seriously developing an Android app, you’re probably concentrating on the Android phones sold through the carriers, which all feature relatively similar means of input and software versions. But some of those phones feature custom interfaces, some are running Android 2.1, some are running 2.2, some have square screen aspect ratios, some have widescreen aspect ratios, and on and on and on.
BlackBerry is apparently the hardest platform for developers. In an interview with Darren Cross, head of business development at Fandango, Computerworld relays the following regarding app development:
“Cross said it took about the same time and effort to build Fandango for Android as for WP7, although Android has proven more difficult because it has different device versions on the market and many device makers have their own interface overlays, such as the Touchwiz overlay on the Samsung Captivate.
BlackBerry has been the hardest to build for, given that it offers so many types of devices and different ways to input information. The iPhone has been the easiest, Cross said, because it is locked down in terms of its interface and hardware variations.”
Microsoft has opted against letting hardware manufacturers tweak the Windows Phone 7 interface like they’re able to do with Android. So even though we’ll see multiple Windows Phone 7 handsets from various manufacturers, the look and feel of the software will be the same on all of them. During the presentation today, Microsoft also mentioned that updates to the Windows Phone 7 software can be pushed out to the handsets directly from Microsoft—you won’t have to wait for your specific handset to get the new software like you do with certain Android phones.
If anything, Microsoft gets dinged for not making Windows Phone 7 backwards compatible with existing Windows Mobile applications. Again, this should be seen as a sign that Windows Mobile will eventually be phased out and, more importantly, it allows developers to easily program apps for Windows Phone 7. The underlying tools available to make Windows Phone 7 programs include .NET, Silverlight, and XNA, which plenty of developers already use to program for the PC and Xbox 360.
