InfoAnda - Windows Phone struggles to break catch-22 as app makers hold off |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

All Israeli options against Iran on table | 5 June 2009
Rats, cats, mildew eat at Senegal's French West Africa archives | 18 April 2010
Web surfers to pay online using Facebook, Twitter | | 2 April 2012

Israeli soldier discharged over protest sign | 19 January 2010

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Windows Phone struggles to break catch-22 as app makers hold off |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Issues 2012 Candidates 2012 Tales from the Trail Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Bernd Debusmann Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus David Cay Johnston Bethany McLean Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Jack & Suzy Welch Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Black friend defends shooter of Florida teen 25 Mar 2012 Magnitude 7.2 quake hits central Chile 25 Mar 2012 "Hunger Games" gorges on $214 million global debut 25 Mar 2012 Tough times in the U.S.-China iPad smuggling game 25 Mar 2012 Cheney older, waited longer than average for heart transplant 25 Mar 2012 Discussed 213 Cheney recovering after heart transplant: spokeswoman 195 Obama makes killing of black Florida teen personal 170 Marine sergeant faces discipline for Facebook critique of Obama Watched Japanese tsunami boat appears near Canada Sat, Mar 24 2012 Obama warns Pyongyang Sun, Mar 25 2012 Nuclear protests ahead of Seoul nuke summit Sun, Mar 25 2012 Windows Phone struggles to break catch-22 as app makers hold off Tweet Share this Email Print Related News RIM to give out prototype BlackBerry device Fri, Mar 23 2012 Insight: Samsung: "fast executioner" seeks killer design Fri, Mar 23 2012 Rovio to get Angry Birds Space for Windows Phone: CEO Fri, Mar 23 2012 BlackBerry maker seeks Apple-focused app developer Thu, Mar 22 2012 Foxconn International swings to 2011 net profit Thu, Mar 22 2012 Analysis & Opinion Buying equity in people Did the market know about Apple’s announcement? Related Topics Tech » Media » A visitor talks on his phone next to a Windows Phone advertisement during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 27, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Albert Gea By Tarmo Virki and Supantha Mukherjee Mon Mar 26, 2012 2:22am EDT (Reuters) - Apps, apps, apps! That is the main challenge that Microsoft and Nokia, who are trying to claw back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone and Google's Android in the red hot smartphone market, face now. And so far the going does not look too good for the challengers and their warhorse Windows Phone platform. Apps, short for applications, are small pieces of software that do useful or fun things on cellphones. The huge number and variety of apps in Apple and Google stores are a key factor that has helped the companies emerge as dominant players in the lucrative smartphone market. On Monday, Microsoft and Nokia said they would invest a total of 18 million euros ($23.9 million) into a new mobile application development program, AppCampus, at Helsinki's Aalto University during the next three years. The move underscores the seriousness with which the two companies view the problem. Most popular global apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Evernote are available on the Windows Phone platform, but makers of many niche or local apps have shied away. The number of apps available in the Windows Phone Marketplace now exceeds 65,000, surpassing those at another rival Research in Motion's BlackBerry store. But that is still far short of around half a million apps available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, according to app researcher Distimo. Worse still, only 37 percent of developers are keen to make apps for Windows Phone, showed the latest IDC/Appcelerator survey. That number, slightly down from the previous survey, compared with the 89 percent interested in iPhone and 79 percent in Android phones. "Mobile developers' interest for the Windows platform has been for the least very lukewarm over the last two years, with no sign of improvement," Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said. Microsoft launched its latest Windows Phone 7.5 operating system, Mango, last year to good reviews. And Nokia, struggling to reclaim smartphone handset marketshare from nimbler rivals such as Apple and Samsung Electronics, launched its Lumia line of phones running on Mango late last year. Lumia phones look sleek and spiffy, with live, tiled icons that automatically update news, weather, pictures and social feeds. But the fewer number of apps and their quality are hobbling the phones' appeal to customers. Finn Christian Lindholm, a Helsinki-based partner at digital design agency Fjord, believes the latest Windows Phones are interesting enough to challenge the iPhone. The key to both companies' strategy to gain in the smartphone market would be how they break out of the vicious cycle -- the low sales of the Windows phones holding back app makers, and consumers shunning the phones for lack of the apps they are accustomed to. "They need to break the Catch-22 before there is enough volume and natural pull," Lindholm said. SHRINKING MARKETSHARE Monday's announcement by Microsoft and Nokia is an attempt to find new solutions to the problem, in addition to paying third-party developers for the apps. They hope the program, which will provide support, coaching and also funding for app makers, will boost the number of unique and outstanding apps on Windows Phone. It's an uphill road for a new platform. Microsoft's share of the smartphone market fell to just 2 percent last quarter, from 3 percent a year ago and 13 percent four years earlier, according to Strategy Analytics. Last month, Windows Phone lost also its highly respected chief of developer relations, Brandon Watson, who left for Amazon.com Inc, which is taking on established players in the mobile devices market with its Kindle e-readers. Apart from Nokia, which has a lot riding on the platform, Microsoft has little support from other handset makers, such as Samsung, which are clearly focused on their Android offerings. That is not surprising as the other handset makers are struggling to sell their Windows Phone models. They, unlike Nokia, can only dream of payments from Microsoft for promoting and supporting its software. Last quarter, Microsoft paid $250 million to Nokia on this account. NO TALKING TOM CAT On Friday, Rovio, the maker of the wildly popular Angry Birds game, created a scare when media reports said the latest version of the game -- Angry Birds Space -- will skip the Windows platform. Rovio Chief Executive Mikael Hed later told Reuters that the company is working toward getting the game to Windows Phone but did not specify when it will be available. Showing how difficult a task that Microsoft and Nokia face, many small app developers, such as Outfit7 -- maker of the popular Talking Tom Cat app -- and Joby -- which makes a camera app -- said they have no plans to be on Windows Phone either. Pioneers in augmented reality -- a technology that combines the digital and real worlds, and is one of the hottest areas of wireless -- are also holding back. "We have enough work in keeping Android and iPhone apps up to date, as well as in enhancing our augmented reality capabilities on them," said Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald, co-founder of Dutch-based augmented reality firm Layar. Jeff Janer, co-founder and CEO of Springpad, which makes the namesake app that allows users to store, organize and share content, raised the main concern of the app makers: Will the hard work to move to a new platform pay off? "When considering a new platform, we look to balance cost of development and support against potential return in terms of market opportunity and the ability to cost-effectively reach the market," said Janer, who currently has no plans to develop an app for Windows Phone. For many small developers, it is a question of cost and how fast they can recoup the investment. It would probably take six man-months to build an app for Windows phone and if that was contract work it would be $60,000 or more, said Adam Saltsman, co-founder of Semi Secret Software, which makes the Wurdle word game. The small customer base for Windows Phone is forcing developers to charge more for the apps, turning off customers further. Most apps that are available for 99 cents on Google Play cost $2.99 on the Windows Phone Marketplace. Andreas Bernstrom, CEO of Rebtel, one of the most popular Internet-based calling applications on iPhone and Android, said the company has Windows Phone on its development roadmap for later this year but has not yet started work. "I don't know what the market will be like in six months, maybe we need to focus on tablets or something else," he said. Jeffrey Glueck, chief executive of Skyfire Labs Inc, which makes the eponymous mobile Web browser, said the main driver for developing on Windows Phone will be carrier requests. "So far, we're only getting requests around Android and iPhone." That is one more challenge for Microsoft and Nokia. ($1 = 0.7540 euros) (Reporting by Tarmo Virki in Helsinki and Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair) Tech Media Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Advertise With Us Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Monday, 26 March 2012
U.S. negotiation efforts with Taliban have failed: group |
Beijing loyalist to lead Hong Kong after fraught election |
Chavez starts radiation therapy, may meet Pope |
Tough times in the U.S.-China iPad smuggling game |
BATS founder pushes for IPO despite freak glitch |
Obama vows to pursue further nuclear cuts with Russia |
China's Hu calls for restraint on Korean peninsula: Xinhua |
Major quake rattles Chile but no serious damage |
Annan due in China, Russia says Syria peace takes time |
Iranian leader says U.S. can no longer dictate policy |
Senegal wins as Wade concedes election defeat |
Pope heads to Cuba, seeking change and faith revival |
Afghan gun massacre families paid compensation |
Windows Phone struggles to break catch-22 as app makers hold off |
Special Report: The Sony Schism |
Tough times in the U.S.-China iPad smuggling game |
Anti-Kony campaign in turmoil after filmmaker's breakdown |
Apollo set for major Big Brother stake |
Hollywood showbiz bible Variety up for sale |
Don Draper in a different place as Mad Men returns |
Sarkozy to bar radical imams from entering France |
Syria responds to Annan peace plan, spokesman says |
Obama says to suspend trade benefits for Argentina |
Two killed in Somali rebels' mortar attack on palace |
Obama to seek easing of strains with Pakistan's Gilani |
U.S. says willing to talk to North Korea if it behaves |
New Hong Kong leader faces stiff test after poll win |
Senegal wakes to new era after Wade bows out |
US regulators push for online do not track system |
EBay blocks sale of sorbitol after death in Italy |
An app to make gift giving easier |
Australia blocks China's Huawei from broadband tender |
Redford puts star power behind Colorado River film |
'Hunger Games' gorges on $214 million global debut |
Smash producers get top award by gay media group |
Bobby Womack diagnosed with colon cancer |
Custody for woman accused of Cowell home break-in |
Lost Lempicka set to fetch millions at auction |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01