jewishmafia
07-29-2009, 05:05 PM
I wrote up an article about a new contest that Microsoft is trying to promote in regards to their new developers contest where they are giving away a surface device and surface SDK to the winners of each contest category.
Here is a snippet of my article.
Microsoft has announced today that they will be starting a new contest that will promote their Windows Marketplace for Mobiles. The Windows Marketplace for Mobiles is basically the Windows Mobile/Microsoft equivalent of the Apple App store, which appears to be preparing for a large scale blitz on the apple app store claiming that developers will have access to 30 million users and that this will be a very good way to make money. Now, getting to the contest, there are a few benefits that Microsoft is trying to promote in order to get people to develop for the Marketplace.
The first thing is, they are giving away Microsoft Surface tables to the winners of four categories: the categories in who earns the most revenue (downloads x price), who has the most downloaded free app, the most useful (judged by panel), and the most playful (judged by panel). In addition to this, they will be giving away an SDK with the Surface device to allow for them to develop for surface as well.
For more about the contest go here (http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/7/28/microsoft-takes-a-shot-at-apples-app-store.aspx)
There is also an interesting commentary about this newly announced Windows Mobile developers program which makes a lot of good points about how this may not be very successful based on the fact that there are too many barriers to entry.
Snippet of that article...
MICROSOFT'S MOBILE MARKETPLACE opened its doors to developers on Monday and some very worrying cracks in the system are already showing.
Users are complaining loudly about problems with credit card transactions, an overcomplicated registration process, the lack of promised free-of-charge services for students, inconsistencies in copy protection policies, and overblown charges for certification testing. Added to all of this, Microsoft has been accused of deleting unflattering forum threads without explanation.
http://www.theinquirer.net/IMG/053/74053/ms-marketplce2-185x114.jpg?1248869674
Credit card chaos
A number of potential developers have reported that credit card transactions are being bounced without explanation: "I tried to register but was unable to complete the signup process. After filliing out my credit card info I just got a standard error page," one such user told us. "I tried with another credit card and then I got an error message with the code 40000, and thereafter I was redirected to the same standard error page."
The problem seems to be more prevalent for anyone attempting to register from outside the US but not exclusively. Microsoft has suggested that the problem may be caused by inconsistencies between details in the Marketplace sign-up forms and existing billing relationships with the company, including Xbox Live accounts.
If you'd like to read more about the potential downfalls head over to the INQ (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1495483/developers-dish-dirt-mobile-marketplace)
Here is a snippet of my article.
Microsoft has announced today that they will be starting a new contest that will promote their Windows Marketplace for Mobiles. The Windows Marketplace for Mobiles is basically the Windows Mobile/Microsoft equivalent of the Apple App store, which appears to be preparing for a large scale blitz on the apple app store claiming that developers will have access to 30 million users and that this will be a very good way to make money. Now, getting to the contest, there are a few benefits that Microsoft is trying to promote in order to get people to develop for the Marketplace.
The first thing is, they are giving away Microsoft Surface tables to the winners of four categories: the categories in who earns the most revenue (downloads x price), who has the most downloaded free app, the most useful (judged by panel), and the most playful (judged by panel). In addition to this, they will be giving away an SDK with the Surface device to allow for them to develop for surface as well.
For more about the contest go here (http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/7/28/microsoft-takes-a-shot-at-apples-app-store.aspx)
There is also an interesting commentary about this newly announced Windows Mobile developers program which makes a lot of good points about how this may not be very successful based on the fact that there are too many barriers to entry.
Snippet of that article...
MICROSOFT'S MOBILE MARKETPLACE opened its doors to developers on Monday and some very worrying cracks in the system are already showing.
Users are complaining loudly about problems with credit card transactions, an overcomplicated registration process, the lack of promised free-of-charge services for students, inconsistencies in copy protection policies, and overblown charges for certification testing. Added to all of this, Microsoft has been accused of deleting unflattering forum threads without explanation.
http://www.theinquirer.net/IMG/053/74053/ms-marketplce2-185x114.jpg?1248869674
Credit card chaos
A number of potential developers have reported that credit card transactions are being bounced without explanation: "I tried to register but was unable to complete the signup process. After filliing out my credit card info I just got a standard error page," one such user told us. "I tried with another credit card and then I got an error message with the code 40000, and thereafter I was redirected to the same standard error page."
The problem seems to be more prevalent for anyone attempting to register from outside the US but not exclusively. Microsoft has suggested that the problem may be caused by inconsistencies between details in the Marketplace sign-up forms and existing billing relationships with the company, including Xbox Live accounts.
If you'd like to read more about the potential downfalls head over to the INQ (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1495483/developers-dish-dirt-mobile-marketplace)