It’s been a few days since I posted an update on the growth of the store. Yesterday Mary Jo Foley posted an article with some of my recent stats, and Alex Wilhelm posted a bit more cynical take. Today, fellow EXMSFT, Charlie Kindel posted on his blog about how important it is that the growth of the Windows 8 Store (or any sustainable ecosystem) be organic, not subsidized. First: I’m happy that there is so much interest in these statistics….
Milestones. Every one counts. Sure, the iOS app store has considerably more apps than the Windows Store today – that’s not news. But developers are adding to the Windows Store every day – and though some apps are removed from the store periodically, the number that grows every day. Today, the Windows Store broke the 2000 app mark and arrived at 2,079 apps available internationally. Though I can’t explain the divot of September 12th (the day after the Windows Store…
I swear – there are other people asking for information too – but the other day Jason again gave me a good question for which I had the data in hand. He asked: [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/databasejase/status/247582677241307136″] As of yesterday, Sept. 18, 2012: There were 1851 apps available globally. There were 1094 developers with apps live in the store. The average is 1.6 apps per developer. 866 of developers had one app live. There are 18 developers with 10 or more applications…
As I mentioned yesterday, I asked my Twitter followers what Windows Store statistics they’d like to see. He likely meant it as a joke, but follower @databasejase asked: [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/databasejase/status/247440810721832960″] I figured I’d actually take a look at this one, just to see if they had shown up. Indeed they have. Early on, the Apple iPhone had no LED flash, so “flashlight” apps arrived that could light the screen one (or often more) colors, so that the screen could be…
One month ago today, I began analyzing the Windows Store. It was a dark time, when we didn’t know the difference between a Metro app, modern app, and a Windows Store app. When I first calculated the number of Windows Store apps on August 16th, it was 530 applications. Times have changed – with the clarified naming, I think I finally get what those terms all mean. Well at least the last two. The first one means you’re likely to…
Recently, I’ve seen a lot of excitement around Windows to Go, a new feature available in Windows 8. Windows to Go (WTG) enables Windows 8 (Enterprise) to boot from a USB Flash Drive (UFD). Fundamentally, WTG includes three technical features: Windows support for USB boot (including USB 3.0) Support for installing and running Windows from a removable USB hard drive (yes, this is a different line item than 1) Support for handling “surprise removal” of Windows without hanging or crashing….
When you travel somewhere, especially somewhere new, somewhere eclectic – do you ever buy your airline ticket, hop on the plane, and eagerly look forward to planning your activities once you arrive? No. No, you don’t. You plan a trip, buy tickets, get everything lined up long before you go. It’s been my contention for some time that buying a new computing device – smartphone, tablet/slate or other, is just like taking a trip. Also, unlike years ago where when…
This evening, in lieu of a transcript, I listened a few times to Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote – specifically around the 3:06:23 mark. Given my blog post yesterday, I was most curious as to whether I was correct that there would not be any x86 application compatibility for Windows running on ARM. Steve’s words are below, emphasis is mine: “We are very excited about the full set of partners for the next version of Windows. NVidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments…
There has been quite a bit of recent discussion and hearsay about Windows on ARM processors – that is, a rumor that Microsoft is developing a version of Windows (full Windows, not CE/Windows Phone 7 – which already run on ARM) that supports the low-powered ARM processor preferred for mobile devices today. Windows NT, upon which all full versions of Windows today are based, was designed from day one to be a “portable” architecture. Though the Intel x86 (and the…
With the tepid reception of the first generation of Google TV devices, the article that follows may seem too kind to Google. I ask you to suspend reality for a few minutes, and imagine that Google will, as Google often does, “try, try again”. Recently I discussed three devices that today may not seem terribly similar. However, I believe that in the next 1-2 years, you will see these three devices, and the three companies behind them, going head to…