As a dyed in the wool iOS developer, I’m tempted by the Windows 7 mobile environment. When did Microsoft start actually doing things right?
I’m sitting on the train home from a Nokia / Microsoft love fest developer outreach day. I honestly don’t know what to call it. I was invited by Nokia to attend an introduction to Windows 7 in London, co-hosted with Microsoft. As an iOS developer with some limited Android experience, these are my initial thoughts. I’ve not yet got a device to play with so this is all from the presentation and a quick read on the internet. My overall impression is that Windows 7 Phone Mobile Edition is the bastard child of iOS and Android, with some wayward Microsoft genetic engineering thrown into the mix. It doesn’t sound that enticing, but to my surprise it works. If you have already got experience of Windows phone development my apologies for mistakes, misunderstandings and the basic nature of the post.
As more and more Apple apps are released with faux leather and other abominable designs, it is refreshing to see the big bad Seattle software house push clean, uniform, user-centric design is a refreshing surprise. The user orientation of the platform is pushed right through to what we as developers have access to.
Finally, Microsoft have realised that less is more on the mobile with a very iOS like strictness on access to data and no multitasking. (iOS back in the pre-version 3 days anyone?) The fast application switching makes the user experience a little more palatable enabling applications to resume state in most cases. Although, I want to get my hands on a device to try a few UI edge cases that weren’t covered in todays intro.
Some nice things that did impress on the platform were the system asynchronous internet access queue. Basically you can add up-to five documents to be downloaded by the system in a FIFO queue. No matter what your applications state is the operating system downloads them and puts them inside your isolated store (application bundle to us iOS developers). I could have done with a similar service on the iPhone for some previous projects.
The developer program itself is a little bit quirky. There are limits on the number of devices that can be linked to a developers account, only three devices for the basic account and that seems like a very small number. Apparently this is to avoid side loading apps with out using their marketplace. This doesn’t cause a problem for beta testing, however, as you can upload a private beta test to the market place, and up to 100 beta testers who get emailed a link to a 90 day download of your app for testing. That blows the current iOS beta process out of the water even with the fantastic TestFlight. The limit on devices will become somewhat frustrating, but my impression is that Microsoft will bend the rules for you if you ask nicely. After all, they are anxious for developers to buy into this.
As a developer, you have a limit of 100 free apps and unlimited paid for apps, which should go someway to limiting the amount of trash that gets put into the store. Paid apps can have a free trial period which is great to see, and it is up to the developer to cripple the app by whatever criteria you want.
The marketplace has an approval process that, like Apple, involves people reviewing the applications. We were given told that responses from the testers are very detailed for rejections and can include recommended improvements for the next release even if the app is approved. So the testers can’t be that busy, or Steve Balmer really is serious about Developers, Developers, Developers1.
The major roadblock to selling on the Marketplace is the insistence for developers to have a US tax code to avoid being taxed in the US for purchases. Personally I’m not the biggest fan of paperwork, let alone tax forms, and having to deal with them in another country with their own bureaucratic culture does not seem appealing. Apparently, though, it’s all very easy to complete. Next is pay-outs, the minimum pay-out is $200 and I suspect due to the myopic nature of the tax setup, we’ll get paid in dollars so have to take a £15 - £20 hit on every payment in bank charges. I think I’ll try to pay for my next Windows license in Tögrögs.
Another neat feature is the integration of your app into Bing search results. Madness, and more useful if they had a meaningful market share. By including some magic sauce in the application manifest you can appear ready to download in related Bing searches even if they are not looking for an app. I’m completely unsure how this works, as it was thrown in as an aside into the final presentation segment, but it looks promising.
The three limitations to adoption are; the perceived ‘goodness’ of the platform for users. Microsoft don’t have the greatest reputation, how many times have you heard the word Vista next to an expletive? Secondly the entire ecosystem, Zune and marketplace do cover Music and Apps, how extensively I’m not sure, but I’ll bet they aren’t as complete as iTunes. Thirdly the phones aren’t anything special they look like stock Android phones. HTC (only UK windows 7 phone manufacturer) is not the best at design. Nokia could steal a march on all the other hardware guys if they have a really nice phone.
All in all I’ve some away from the day impressed with Metro as a user interface, impressed with the direction that Windows is taking with the mobile platform. It is obviously in its infancy and I suspect it will become more open as the platform matures, but it’s nice to see a Microsoft platform that isn’t trying to be all things to all men. I got a phone a free developer license and some free advertising, so yes I’ll be building at least one Windows 7 app.
1 Who the hell let him do that? Seriously what were the PR department smoking? Did they have too much of the Koolaid, because surely that isn’t normal behaviour in anyones books? Full show-reel of his maddest moments.