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The Windows Store and Windows Phone Store are the fastest growing app marketplaces in operation today, according to Microsoft – and the platform holder rolled out plenty of stats to back this up.
In a talk during GDC Europe, senior technical evangelist Lee Stott encouraged developers to consider developing more apps for Windows, stressing that Microsoft has gone to great lengths to ensure apps work universally across all its platforms: Windows, Windows Phone and even Xbox.
The Windows Store current features more than 415,000 apps – an increase of 145 per cent year-on-year – which have been created by over 410,000 registered developers, up 94 per cent year-on-year.
The number of active users comes in at 100m, a year-on-year increase of 250 per cent, and 50 per cent of them purchase in-app content.
The firm claims Windows Phone is the No.2 smartphone OS in 9 markets around the world, with more device shipments than iPhone in 10 markets.
Stott also discussed how the source of developer revenues differ slightly across Microsoft platforms according to the audience. On the Windows Store, 40 per cent of revenues are generated by advertising, while that number drops to 29 per cent on Windows Phone. Conversely, 44 per cent of revenues on Windows Phone come from in-app purchases, higher than the 31 per cent generated on Windows Store. Paid apps are relatively even at 29 per cent and 26 per cent on Windows Store and Windows Phone respectively.
Microsoft is also keen for more developers with paid apps to use their Trial system, allowing consumers to download a time-limited or feature-limited version of the game before they buy it. 82 per cent of the Top 50 paid apps on Windows stores use this option.
Stott also stressed the importance of localising for other languages such as German, French, Russian and Spanish. On Windows, only a third of users speak English as their first language – on Windows Phone that drops to a quarter, meaning more than 75 per cent of Windows Phone app downloads are for other language versions.
