Question about App Development on Win 8.1RT

[kristalsoldier]

Hi...

On looking through at least a dozen or more reviews of the Surface 2, I find that the most common denominator between them is the lack of apps for the Surface 2. And, not surprisingly, it is this which gets the Surface2 a relatively low review score.

Now, the question: How much does it cost to develop a really good app? Let's say, MS had to develop 30 apps of a very high quality and all optimized for the Surface 2, how much would it cost MS?

Why do I ask? Let's take the banking sector. I find the MS Store to be particularly weak in this sector unlike the Apple Store and, to a lesser extent, Google's Play Store.

Let's say MS went to 30 major banks in different parts of the world and told them that they would build a high-spec app for each of them for free and would train a set of people from each bank in managing those apps, and would defray the cost of maintaining and upgrading those apps over a 5 year time-frame, how much would it cost MS?

What if MS identified the major service-oriented apps (not games etc.) that people use from the Apple Store (like Instagram etc.) and went to the respective companies and made the same offer as above, how much would it cost MS?

Would this be a rational way to build (or jumpstart) the MS app store?

Disclaimer: I have no idea about the nuances involved in app development (for any platform) - nor do I have any idea about how much it costs etc.

 

[jnjroach]

Microsoft works with the developer community, they have a dedicated World Wide Team as well as local Teams, this is the Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) Team, this is the group responsible for the MSDN and TechNet Sites . Also many of the Business Apps are b2b and not b2c and are Side Loaded and people are completely unaware that they have these options. Here are some examples:

Apps for Windows 8.1 Enterprise

Currently Microsoft has 56 of the Top 60 iOS/Android Apps, the 2 most major ones that are missing still are Instagram and Flipbook. Flipbook is scheduled to be released soon and Instagram is being released on the Phone 8 platform in the coming weeks.

When it comes to banking apps, IE 11 tends to work with their sites. The Apps were created because of the poor situation of iOS and Android Browsers.

Microsoft has incentive programs in place for developers:

https://build.windowsstore.com/#fbid=bZJ8Q86zwyt

The biggest hurdle for MS on App Development is Windows Developers tend to be very WinForm (Win32 using WCF, WPF, etc.) focused or Web Focused (Silverlight or ASP.net) and also tend to want to control distribution (i.e. - Valve and other Game Houses), even those these same developers will gladly create apps for iOS and Google Play they balk at the Windows Store because they chaff at loosing the last viable open platform.

To build a good Application with good functionality and UI can run $100,000 for a simple app all the way to a few million for a complex app. Many of the Professionally Produced Apps in the Store cost the developer between $20,000 to $50,000 as many are just a UI that aggregates RSS feeds.

 

[oion]

Those reviews that complain about the app store are also the same ones that invariably fail to mention the hefty web browsing experience with IE10/11. Instead, a typical review might remember to say "Ohthere'sIEtoo, but you can't install Firefox/Chrome/etc. therefore it's crap. By the way, not enough apps. And not enough apps. Because I need millions to feel manly." (I'm only being half-sarcastic, but my opinion about that dross is pretty clear in my sig. I mean, people are still whining about a Youtube app, even though that's owned by MS' nemesis Google. Duh.)

Both my bank and credit card websites work perfectly fine in IE11 on Surface 2, as they did in IE10 on Surface RT. Including the fancypants Flash-based virtual account number generator. I can even log onto my web host's Ajaxplorer4 webftp. Try that with iOS/Android browsers. The only real advantage for any web service app on the Surface or any other WinRT tab--besides getting around Java limitations--is touch-friendliness. But just pinch-zooming on any websites that give me problems is fine with me. I think extra-functional apps that aren't clones of web services are far more interesting, really, like science apps, construction tools, field usage, programming, web development, EMR support, etc.----someone please make a good SFTP app! (But if MS hasn't supplied good APIs/whatever for that, then MS has to get on it...)

 

[jnjroach]

Office 2013 and IE 11 are a killer combo, but the so called Tech Pundits are in love with iOS and Android which are App driven so if you are going to compare with your bias then of course you are going to come up with the reviews we've seen. Just look at the CNET review of Mavericks vs. Windows 8.1 written by they guy who owns the section on CNET for Apple Products....

 

[kristalsoldier]

Well, the problem is that my bank's site for some reason does not work - but they seem ready enough to have iOS and Android apps. I asked the bank about both a Win Phone 8 app and why their website does not work in IE 11, their response was close to incoherent! Problem is I can't switch banks! I really wish they get on with the program!

 

[oion]

Well, the problem is that my bank's site for some reason does not work - but they seem ready enough to have iOS and Android apps. I asked the bank about both a Win Phone 8 app and why their website does not work in IE 11, their response was close to incoherent! Problem is I can't switch banks! I really wish they get on with the program!

Yes, that's a problem with the bank; there's really only so much MS can do to get 3rd party programmers to do the legwork for their own products.

Customer service at these institutions are never the same as tech support, which I'm sure explains the incoherency--does your bank by any chance have a separate tech support contact somewhere? Maybe keep going up the chain, armed with Jeff's incentive info above to show them that they can be recompensed somehow.

Otherwise in your situation () the only way around if you only have access to your Surface is remote desktop. Do you have a Win8 phone too? I have an Android phone with the Opera Classic browser, so if something doesn't work on IE11, I figure I can try there...

 

[kristalsoldier]

Yes, that's a problem with the bank; there's really only so much MS can do to get 3rd party programmers to do the legwork for their own products.

Customer service at these institutions are never the same as tech support, which I'm sure explains the incoherency--does your bank by any chance have a separate tech support contact somewhere? Maybe keep going up the chain, armed with Jeff's incentive info above to show them that they can be recompensed somehow.

Otherwise in your situation () the only way around if you only have access to your Surface is remote desktop. Do you have a Win8 phone too? I have an Android phone with the Opera Classic browser, so if something doesn't work on IE11, I figure I can try there...

You are correct, it is the idiot bank's problem. What I don't get is if they are able to have their website work well with the frequent iterations of Chrome, why can't they do the same with IE11? I'll have to look into how to contact the bank's tech support. And, yes, I have a Win 8 Phone.

 

[jnjroach]

Krystal, I'll assume you have tried this, but have you attempted compatibility mode? Another option is adding the site to the trusted sites in IE to see if it will work.