With so much positive feedback about new Windows devices, including phones and tablets, now is the time to finish or update your apps, writes Todd Brix on the Windows Phone Developers Blog, who calls this the “biggest holiday season yet.”
“The current holiday shopping season and all the great promotions are just underway, and we’re already seeing momentum build with the (Windows) Store surpassing 12 million transactions per day and Windows Phone Store surpassing 200,000 apps,” he says.
Also helping sales are Microsoft’s new gift cards that let users download apps. “Taking into consideration the Microsoft and partner promotions and consumer purchase of Microsoft and Xbox gift cards in retail locations, we are forecasting over $100 million to be available for consumers to buy apps and games this holiday season across 100 retailers in 41 markets,” he writes.
If you submit apps by Monday, Dec. 16 for publishing by Christmas, and by Friday, Dec. 20 for publishing by New Year’s Day, that will leave time for the standard, stated turnaround time and leave you a “bit of room for any changes you might need to make based on feedback you receive during certification.”
Also, if you’ve got a great idea for an app, and are new to development, be sure to try out Microsoft’s new tool, Windows Phone App Studio Beta, designed for novice developers.
Brix offers tips on how to increase an app’s geographical reach, offer a trial option, include features that drive user star ratings and increase local relevance.
To read his entire post, head over to the Windows Phone Developer Blog.
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Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center