Compare this to the Apple SDK which is a free IDE + SDK until you decide to list your app.

I wonder which brings in more revenue for MSFT, the WinMo licence, or the VS licence.

Funny thing is – I read those numbers posted by Apple and they just didn’t add up. “Apple also said there are now more than 85,000 apps available for the more 50 million iPhones and iPod touches and 125,000 developers creating apps for the devices.” Someone is either misquoting or flat out lying.

Windows Mobile is not a single platform. For example, there are devices with touchscreens and those without. Within each of those sets there are many sub-sets of devices with different capabilities (eg, screen size, radios, etc). So one of the real problems for developers is how to cope with the diversity of the installed base (to say nothing of upcoming models) – so many developers seem to refuse to cover the field. (If you want to know what I mean, try loading some of the better known apps on say a Treo Pro!)

So if you say there are (say) 20,000 or 50,000 apps out there say – that leads to the question: do they run on the ‘professional’ version of Windows Mobile or the non-touchscreen version and many other questions like that. When you get down to that level of detail, the headline number about the quantity of apps available becomes nonsensical.

Also, with WM7 on the horizon, which promises to be a revolutionary advance in the OS, there is the question of backwards compatibility. I guess it would look stupid for MS to boast about the number of available apps today only to find that they don’t work on the new version of WM in a few months time. That would produce a lot of bad press.

A lot of the point made in other posts above (eg, lack of an app store) also make sense.

So, I’m thinking that maybe there are good reasons why MS doesn’t go out of it’s way to publise the number of available apps.

While it could be that maybe Windows Mobile doesn’t have the most apps out there, what I at least know is that they certainly have more apps that provide the exact functionality I’m looking for.

Here are some of my most-used WM apps:

-PocketBreeze (Very nice PIM frontend. It makes the default PIM suite usable, and integrates well with Pocket Informant if you have that.)
-iLauncher (Not only does it make launching things from the Today screen easy and not take up too much precious screen space, it also places a battery meter along the top edge and a task manager invoked by pressing-and-holding in the upper-right corner, where “X” or “ok” would normally be.
-Pocket Informant (The Windows Mobile version is the most powerful PIM suite I’ve seen outside of a Newton MessagePad 2000/2100. They also took some time to making the ability to set exact times for appointments much easier for the user, which is very helpful even with PocketBreeze, and the note-taking portion restores the handwriting recognition found in WM2003SE’s standard Notes app and adds even more functionality on top.)
-TCPMP (I’ve rarely found a file that DOESN’T play under TCPMP without conversion, and that’s the way I like it. The interface could use a lot of refinement, though.)
-SoftMaker Office (This is the most powerful Office suite for a pocket computer I’ve ever seen-it even rivals desktop Office suites! Documents To Go and QuickOffice look like good basic editing tools, but don’t appear to have even half the functionality that SoftMaker Office provides.)
-XnView Pocket (Very nice image viewer. Interface needs work, but it views all sorts of files without problem-especially animated .GIFs, which I’ve only seen Resco Photo Viewer handle, and that app plays them slower than normal.)
-Resco File Explorer (Basic file operations are a cinch with this app, and it even can access network file shares from my desktop or tablet! It also doubles as a registry editor.)
-Opera Mobile/Iris (WM5+) or IBM J9 + Opera Mini 4 + VGA hack (WM2003SE) (Now, if my hx4700 wasn’t stuck to running WM2003SE without slowing down all the time, I wouldn’t be as concerned here…but with a WM5 or later device, there are plenty of browsers that give Safari Mobile some good competition and suffice for my needs.)

Also, if I ever manage to get my hands on that Samsung Mondi I’ve wanted for a while and can afford it, I’m getting Kinoma Play as well, which has a nice interface and handles streaming multimedia very well, though I’m not sure about its format support compared to TCPMP (which is practically second only to VLC on desktop/laptop platforms).

I even have a Bluetooth GPS receiver I haven’t used much at the moment, and with that, I’m not limited to simple turn-by-turn navigation. I could use it for geocaching or other relatively niche uses of the technology.

Oh, and you’ll notice that none of these apps are even phone-related in the slightest. That’s because I do NOT want a phone-it adds to the cost significantly, and I don’t have a lot of freedom in phone choice (dumb LG LX350 or no phone at all). I want a fully-fledged pocket computer that provides all the functionality I expect out of a computer, and so far, only Windows Mobile delivers until the developers on other platforms get cracking.

I install exactly 10 things on it:

1. Contact Changer (changes contacts sorting for all contacts).
2. Facebook Mobile
3. Kai ABC Editor — WordComplete Dictionary Editor
4. Kai AutoCorrect.NET — Word Correct Dictionary Editor
5. Microsoft Bing Search
6. Microsoft .NET Compact Framework
7. PHM Registry Editor
8. S2U2 — Slide to Unlock
9. SPB Mobile Shell 3.0
10. Total Commander (File Explorer replacement)

Most of those I only use occasionally. The ones I use daily are:

1. Outlook (built-in for SMS/MMS/Email)
2. Mobile Shell (Today / TouchFLO replacement)
3. Facebook Mobile
4. Microsoft Bing (not daily, but whenever I need gas and want it cheap)
5. Slide-to-Unlock
6. Internet Explorer (to Hell with Opera!)

My point is… yeah, OK, sure, there’s lots of apps out there, but I don’t want or need thousands of apps, and I could care less how many are out there and even less still about how many are downloaded.

Windows Mobile is stalled as it seems. There is talk of separating WinMo 7 and 6.5 among vendors and using the failed Zune strategy – Project Pink to have a new Microsoft phone. I don’t think this will stop Apple and RIM from continuing to beat them.

I know the argument is among some is that the iPhone has useless apps. I disagree as there are over 11 turn-by-turn GPS apps alone. There are loads of very useful apps for the iPhone, really.

Not a solid growth rate over the past several years, but as some have rightly pointed out, quality is more important than quantity.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/may05/05-10windowsMobile5PR.mspx