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To break the Android and iOS stranglehold in the app market, Microsoft has opened up some of its tools and offered revenue guarantees to software developers.
These tools include making availability of codes for Visual Studio (software used to develop programs), Windows Internet of Things (IoT) core, integration of Microsoft technologies for telecom operator-billed solutions and embedding video ads in the app.
Talking to BusinessLine at the Build Conference, Pete Brown, Head of Technical Evangelism and Development at Microsoft, said that the objective is to grow the developer ecosystem, especially at a time when Windows 10 is about to be launched at the end of July and provide more enhancements to Windows Azure, Microsoft’s technology offering for enterprises globally.
Free codeAn app developer, who had to earlier figure out ways to integrate Windows functionalities across different sets of devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops, Brown now has these at his disposal, without having to worry about licence fees.
“Visual Studio code, along with community edition will be available for free and so will Windows IoT core,” said Brown.
While Microsoft does not share the fees that it shares with Indian app developers, a developer at the conference said that if their app gets published they get $100 (in addition to some other applicable criteria).
Microsoft is opening up its technology more and more to developers around the world as it tries to catch up with Android, with its 1.5 million apps, closely followed by Apple, which has around 1.4 million apps. The Redmond-based giant has around 3.4 lakh apps, according to industry reports.
Also, with the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft is looking at a way with which it can make an app work across different devices such as PCs, smartphones and tablets.
“Our strategy is to make sure that a single app that you use for paying bills works the same across different devices,” said Neil Hutson, who drives the adoption of Microsoft’s emerging tools and software platforms.
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