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Microsoft Attempting to Recruit App Store Developers for Zune HD?
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Porting apps is more than just recompiling. It's more than just the code too. If it were the case why are there so few games for mac? Heck, ignore the PPC days. Why don't all games developers just throw the cider wrapper on their game and sell it to mac users? Instant cash, right?
The reason why you don't exactly believe it is that you assume the lack of mentioned details means those details don't exist.
Competition from the company that basically holds a monopoly in the computer world. I don't think you can see the big picture here.
I actually like the way the Zune HD looks, reminds me of the color scheme of the 2G iPhone (the best looking iPhone). The GUI in really nice, the transitions and overall responsiveness looks really good. Tegra looks like a beast for mobile devices and the Zune HD should have the muscle to run some impressive apps. That said, Microsoft has made a big mistake by not launching an app store with the release of the device, there should be apps and a store on launch in order to court consumers that might be looking at an iPod Touch. Launching an app store several months after the device launch is not smart, Apple got away with it on the 2G iPhone because no one else had a wide spread app store used by all types of consumers. Apps are what make the iPhone and iPod Touch so compelling, the Zune HD is already 1.5 years behind the touch with no apps.
I thought OLED screens don't last too long and aren't mainstream yet, which is why Apple hasn't put them in the iPhone and the iPods
You're talking about SoundJam, previously from C&G. iTunes is essentially a reengineered SoundJam. Damn, I still miss that program. Built-in shoutcast streaming was awesome! I loathed iTunes for awhile because it was no longer developed after the Apple deal.
Apple actually has a history of buying 3rd party applications and integrating them into the OS (especially in the pre-OS X days... WindowShade, stickies, etc). It's too bad they don't do much of that now because there's a lot of good add-ons that should be in OS X but aren't.
I hate to break it to everyone, but the Zune will probably sell enough units that many mobile app developers will in fact release their apps on both. Most console developers already do the same thing.
If I was Apple I'd be a bit concerned because for all of MSs fault they are much better than Apple at coddling developers. .net/c# is a pleasure to work with in Visual Studio. Xcode\objc is nice and has come along way, but it still is not as easy to work with. MS can also leverage the large amount of .net programmers already out there. Just something to keep in mind.
If I was Apple I'd be a bit concerned because for all of MSs fault they are much better than Apple at coddling developers. .net/c# is a pleasure to work with in Visual Studio. Xcode\objc is nice and has come along way, but it still is not as easy to work with. MS can also leverage the large amount of .net programmers already out there. Just something to keep in mind.
But MS is taking some pretty big steps in the right direction with the Zune. I have an iPhone and a 1st gen touch, but have decided to give the Zune HD a shot instead of whatever Apple unveils. Not in a million years would I have ever thought I would be getting a Zune, but times change. The fact that people are actually talking about a Zune in the same sentence as iPod Touch is a huge win for MS.
But they both involve the manufacturer arranging to seed money to developers to create applications for a new device/feature.
I don't see the major significance of whose pocket the money comes from.
By the way, you said "Somebody lures the (paying) developers with:" which is somewhat at odds with Apple helping to arrange a VC fund.
A better question would be,"Why are MS designs always mimicking Apple's? This thing looks like a boxy, unfinished version of the 1st. Gen iPhone.
Another good question would be, "Why is MS always eating off what Apple is doing? Damn, can't they attract their own developers without recruiting Apple's?? Honestly, Enough is Enough.
This sort of post is what results when people only read technology news about a company that only updates its product line once a year.
I say they shouldn't be hoping into the App Store game, but integrate a service that MS already has. Xbox Live! Full on Xbox Live support would be great, espically if your like me and run a clan. Go even further, it's running Nvidia's Tegra chip. It'd be awesome for some Xbox Live Arcade games.
Also, Design is nice. You have to give them props for that. And to all that whine about the e in Marketplace getting cut off, it shows just how much you don't know about Zune. It's had a cut-off style for a lot of it's text since Day 1.
Also, Design is nice. You have to give them props for that. And to all that whine about the e in Marketplace getting cut off, it shows just how much you don't know about Zune. It's had a cut-off style for a lot of it's text since Day 1.
I thought you were all about "facts" and not about "rumors and innuendo?"
As for Microsoft, paying people to use their crap is just part of the routine. Need a new laptop? We'll pay for it (if you'll buy it on camera). Need to do a Web search? Why use Google when we'll pay you to use Bing! Hey, come buy our gaming console. We'll take it in the shorts for years, but as long as it gets us street cred with the hipsters, it's money well spent! Psst...wanna write an app for our newest iPod wannabe? Here's a bucket of cash!
It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Know what the problem is?
The corporate culture at MS.
It all comes down to "culture." It all comes down to beliefs and attitudes - about the user, about how users should interact with technology. It's all about taste. People think that "taste" is some shadowy, abstract, elitist buzzword. It isn't. Taste means you care. It means you aginize over every pixel (a la Scott Forstall) until you get it just right. It means you give a damn about the person who is standing at the cash, ready to fork over their money for your product.
Do your products have that special kind of gestalt, or don't they? Are you making life more difficult for the consumer, or aren't you? Is it your stated goal to perfect design and usability, or isn't it? Microsoft has no mission statement. Zero. You ask anyone what MS is all about, you won't get a clear answer. Apple . . . easy. Right away: usability and design. Their products all scream these two principles. "Cool" stuff. It's "cool" because it looks good, is easy and fun to use, and it works like it should. It's just that simple. When Apple announces a product, you know, at the very least, that it'll look great - hardware and software, and be easy to use. Power wrapped in a great interface that is meant to make life easier, backed up by solid support should you need it. Done. Is that so hard to pull off?
Apple has about half of MS' manpower and resources, and they are redefining industries and markets constantly - from notebooks to operating systems to handhelds. The iPhone happened almost overnight, and its effects have been beyond astounding. In only a couple of years it has changed the mobile/wireless/handheld industry entirely.
Current innovation in the handheld/mobile phone industry is due to Apple. All of it. And it doesn't end there. The reason Windows is approaching some semblance of usability (as in, it sucks less), again, due to Apple. The reason MS is trying to make Windows Mobile something people will actually want to use, once again, due to Apple. The reason Windows sufferers will have an already obsolescent, late, about-to-be-upstaged (again) Zune HD, yet again it's thanks to Apple. When Ballmer walks into a room full to bursting with Mac users, saying "we've got more work to do", it's due to Apple. You like your HTC Touch? Thank Apple. The browser you'll be getting on the Zune HD . . . you can thank Apple. Palm's return to relevance (or semi-relevance), you can thank Apple. It isn't just Elevation Partners at work there. Apple is the key to the existence of usable tech in the mobile and computing industry today.
Where's all the MS R&D money going? Look at Apple from 2001 to the present. Now look at MS. Anything truly compelling or noteworthy from MS in around nine years? XP (nothing to be proud of), and xbox. And more versions of Office bloatware.
MS is essentially a corporate/enterprise software vendor masquerading as a home/consumer vendor.
Simply put, Microsoft products, in light of what could be accomplished with today's technology (what Apple is doing), are unfit for average home/consumer use. Absolutely unfit.
When, as a CEO (Ballmer) you spend half your time defending yourself and your operation against questions about why you're being upstaged, year after year, by a much smaller, nimbler, more focused competitor with half your resources, half your manpower, and half your global reach, something is horribly, horribly wrong.
MS is a follower. They run on two things in the consumer sector:
Ignorance and inertia.
Don't worry. On their upcoming PMP Hunters ad, they'll pay you to choose a Zune over an iPod.
(Hope you're cute and have red hair...)
Um, 13.3 percent of the smartphone market share is a monopoly?
It must be ... since it is not a Windoze thing. Windoze has ONLY 80% or so of the OS market. LOL
UI Paradigm
I am surprised that the developer of a Twitter app was approached, rather than other developers enquiring with MS first about the platform... It is not like this was some killer iPhone only app, so I am wondering how many other iPhone devs may have been contacted.
What makes me scratch my head is that this is using Windows CE with some fancy graphics on top, and although the interface looks slick in use, are all apps going to follow the same conventions (ie.. clicking on a cut-off name at the top to go back one view level?)
What I admire about the iPhone is that in tech terms, the OS is a veteran that is rapidly evolving, however they strictly followed a clear set of UI controls from the outset - which have obviously had a lot of thought put into them.
This might look 'cool' for the kids, but how are apps going to work with this? Will each one using a different type of control interface? I just don't trust MS to have put a lot of thought into this... This is a reactionary product.
I think the Zune HD is a diversionary product as well, as Windows Mobile is fast becoming left behind in terms of evolution in the mobile space, and this screams..."wait.. don't go.. look at this..."
I am surprised that the developer of a Twitter app was approached, rather than other developers enquiring with MS first about the platform... It is not like this was some killer iPhone only app, so I am wondering how many other iPhone devs may have been contacted.
What makes me scratch my head is that this is using Windows CE with some fancy graphics on top, and although the interface looks slick in use, are all apps going to follow the same conventions (ie.. clicking on a cut-off name at the top to go back one view level?)
What I admire about the iPhone is that in tech terms, the OS is a veteran that is rapidly evolving, however they strictly followed a clear set of UI controls from the outset - which have obviously had a lot of thought put into them.
This might look 'cool' for the kids, but how are apps going to work with this? Will each one using a different type of control interface? I just don't trust MS to have put a lot of thought into this... This is a reactionary product.
I think the Zune HD is a diversionary product as well, as Windows Mobile is fast becoming left behind in terms of evolution in the mobile space, and this screams..."wait.. don't go.. look at this..."
This is how I feel about "whose pocket the money comes from":
Money from external investors ----> maybe there's something interesting and potentially successful about the platform
Money from the platform's owner ----> the platform is not interesting, even the owner knows that and is trying to fix it with money
The Zune HD is going to rule the world
in second place, behind Apple.
*I develop useless posts for macrumors forums. Microsoft offered me "a bucket of money" to port my useless posts over to zuneHDrumors forums. I turned them down.
Perhaps they will rule the Underworld. They still have nightmares about not stomping out Apple and their >1% marketshare when they had a chance.
Kinda like Papa John's pizza ...
Better OS = Better product.
Microsoft's mission statement is more business-oriented. Grab market share in the business and IT world. Make money by beating everyone at their game, everywhere, be it in internet search, mobile devices, consumer electronics, productivity software, gaming... they're trying to reach far and wide and be the dominant player everywhere. And where they can't do it with superior engineering, they do it with superior business tactics: negotiating exclusive-rights deals, undercutting the competition, strategic buyouts, using your market share to block others out.
Nowhere in that picture do you see anything about caring for what the customer thinks (or your own developers, for that matter).
At this point, I think Microsoft is willing to spend premium cash to catch back up to Apple in the "iPod market" and eventually the smartphone market. Microsoft realizes the HUGE stakes here, and is probably willing to give top developers whatever they want in order to make available popular iPhone apps for the Zune.
People need to stop knocking Microsoft's design.
And if you knew how the Zune interface worked, you'd know why "marketplace" and "more" are cut-off. Think magnification on the Mac OS X dock. But of course, the menu is longer than the screen allows. In the end it looks better than the simple scroll items of a standard iPod interface.
The more the merrier, I think. Why are people rooting for a monopoly? Apple already controls too much of the MP3 and smartphone market. Too many accessories/apps that we can convince ourselves that we "need." Wouldn't you rather have the choice? If you ever decided to switch to the Zune or a Windows Mobile handset, it would be nice having all the same or very similar apps when you do, wouldn't it?
Honestly, stop complaining.
Dude,
Apple controls a relatively small amount of the smartphone market; they just have the engine for growth in the iphone backed up by the ipod touch. No barrier to entry (a requirement for a monopoly) excepting innovation, and Apple seems to have the momentum there as well.
I wish the Zune well, but I'm not going to root for them.
On a side note and regarding the attempted payment to the developer; If I was in the same position, I would be very careful of being caught taking MS, or anyone else's money. It affects how your customers perceive your work ethic. I think that they did the right thing under the circumstances, but I'm all for them creating an app for Zune without the bribes.
That's certainly spin, or at the very least cleverly worded. It makes Microsoft sound desperate and unscrupulous, and it makes the developer in question sound righteous and high-and-mighty.