The Redmond giant shared its quarterly earnings a couple of days back, and it painted a motley picture overall. Microsoft hardly shared sales figures, a few divisions bled money, but profit remained solid thanks in no small part to the release of Windows 8.
Microsoft’s latest bid is to create a brand new ecosystem around its newest operating system. And while the company is arguably still finding its feet with its new platform, one thing Redmond admitted could be better was its flagship Windows Store and the quality of apps it currently offers.
Peter Klein, the chief financial officer of Microsoft confirmed they have more work to do in this regards:
“While the number of apps in the Windows Store quadrupled, we clearly have more work to do. We need more rich, immersive apps that give users access to content that inform, entertains and inspires.”
This is something I totally agree with, nothing could be truer.
A quick glance at the Windows Store reveals that while the app count is slowly (yet steadily) growing, the overall quality of apps leaves a lot to be desired. Business apps specifically are limited in form and functionality.
One big reason for this could be Windows RT — developing for the ARM platform adds an additional layer of difficulty, particularly for complex apps and graphically intense games. At the very least it requires polishing up coding skills and at worst, a considerable investment of time.
That is why you can see several apps, even from Fortune 500 companies like HP and Symantec, with either missing features of lack of support for Windows RT altogether.
At the end of the day, these are factors that have a definite say in the public acceptance and success of a particular platform. Platforms (particularly mobile ones) live and die by their apps ecosystems — the better the quality of apps available, the more the uptake of a particular platform.
The good news is that Microsoft is aware of the problem. Hopefully it also takes initiatives to fix it and bring more quality developers on board.
