Details emerged yesterday on Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace for Mobile. No one expected Microsoft’s plan to be much different than Apple’s App Store and so, no surprise, it isn’t. Microsoft wants to lure mobile developers by giving them 70 percent of the profit from app sales and will allow them to choose their own prices — even if they want to give their wares away for free.
Developers will have to pay Microsoft $99 per year for the privilege of simply submitting their apps to Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace — and that doesn’t even cover all the applications a developer might want to sell — only the first five. After that, Microsoft wants developers to pay it another $99 per application that it submits to the online store. We suppose if a developer is so successful in the Windows Mobile world that it creates and maintains more than five applications, it can afford to pay $200 or more to its retailer — plus a 30% cut to Microsoft for each app sold. If Microsoft can get those applications reviewed and into the store more quickly than Apple can seem to do, then that’s a good sign as well. (Apple developers are pretty frustrated with long wait times to get their wares approved by Apple’s store.)
Microsoft points out that, by its count, there are more than 20,000 Windows Mobile applications already in market. With its integration with Outlook, Windows Mobile remains a favorite for the enterprise. If Microsoft can lure developers into creating great consumer applications for the platform, it is possible that it could become the tool of choice for executvie types. Hard to see how it will knock the iPhone from its ultra-cool perch, but Microsoft is nothing if not ambitious.
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