Microsoft still handing out checks for Windows Phone apps
(Read article summary)The Windows Phone OS, which lags well behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android, has not proved particularly popular with app developers. That could soon change.
On Sunday, US customers can finally get their hands on the Lumia 900, the much ballyhooed smart phone from Nokia and Microsoft. The Lumia 900 ships with the Windows Phone operating system, a 4.3-inch AMOLED display, and an 8-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens. The Lumia 900, one reviewer notes, "is clearly the best Windows Phone you can buy today, with a sleek design and top performance that rivals the best Android phones and the iPhone."
But here's the rub: Unlike the Android and iOS ecosystems, which are jammed full of apps – all of them accessible through Google Play and the Apple App store, respectively – Windows Phone has failed to really attract the interest of developers. In a report today, the New York Times chalks that up to the reluctance of companies to "funnel time and money into an app for what is still a small and unproved market."
