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扩大WP7手机平台影响力,微软争取应用开发商支持

发布时间:2011-03-12 10:55:19 Tags:,,

通常情况下,PopCap Games对于掌机或手机等新平台,总是先谨慎观望后才向这些新领域进军,但该公司却为微软WP7平台首次破例,不遗余力地将《植物大战僵尸》移植到WP7手机。

PopCap公共关系副总裁Garth Chouteau对此表示,微软和WP7对他们来说是一个战略性发展机遇。尽管WP7平台还没有庞大的应用下载安装用户规模,但他相信WP7终有一天会实现这个突破。微软与开发商一直保持良好的合作关系,该公司创建的Xbox游戏系统,对PopCap的游戏用户来说也很有吸引力。

除此之外,游戏邦认为微软最近与诺基亚结盟也是一个很有利的条件,因为后者至今仍是世界第一的手机制造商。这些优势正是PopCap及其他开发商看好微软WP7的原因所在。

据Chouteau所述,“我们认为WP7将成为一个备受欢迎的手机平台,希望将自己的游戏投放到玩家习惯使用的各种平台。”

游戏邦了解到,微软最初决定放弃早期的手机操作系统,推出全新的WP7平台时,它的目标很谨慎也很简单:重返战局。如果手机应用开发商对WP7有任何需求,微软就会尽力达成他们的愿望。

WP7 mobile phone

WP7 mobile phone

这个世界软件巨擘目前已和《愤怒的小鸟》开发商Rovio等著名公司签署了合作协议,计划将一系列大受热捧的手机应用引进WP7,以便借助这些应用的品牌效应,吸引大量用户选择WP7平台。

WP7平台在开发商中的影响力和支持率正在不断上升,据Urban Airship公司在2011年初的一份调查显示,在今年1月微软与诺基亚宣布联姻之前,将近25%的Urban Airship企业客户有意在今年面向WP7开发手机应用程序,这一比例比2010年提高了5.9%。

尽管WP7已经成为许多企业和开发商锁定的目标,但当前手机平台大战中的两大赢家仍然是苹果iOS和谷歌Android。据Urban Airship的调查显示,99.5%的企业去年曾向对iOS开发应用,Android平台在同一时期的比例为44%;在2011年,有90.5%的企业称有意面向iOS开发应用,而打算为Android平台开发应用的比例则已上升到了74%。

对于一家在手机市场的影响力略为弱势的公司来说,微软要获得开发商的支持就必须亮出自己的竞争优势。微软WP7的开发者体验主管Brandon Watson表示,“我们目前已经取得了许多成就,开发商正在这个平台上盈利。有些人可能还是会把我们和其他平台进行比较,但是要知道,我们的平台才起步几个月而已。”

与苹果App Store的35万以上的应用数量相比,WP7平台Marketplace的9000多款应用确实是微不足道,但据Watson所称,这个WP7应用商店每天至少新增100款应用,并且已聚集了3.2万名的注册应用开发商。

应用程序质量与数量

对任何一个智能手机平台来说,应用程序的数量和质量都是吸引用户的一个关键指标。今天的智能手机已不再局限于语音聊天等基本功能,它们的最大优势在于拥有强大功能的应用程序。

AppNation创始人及总裁Andrew Ianni认为,“无论你是一个手机操作系统开发商,还是手机或平板电脑制造商、汽车连网设备制造商,让你的产品实现差异化发展的条件就是应用程序及软件。这也正是这些企业都在讨好应用开发商的原因所在,如果这些企业缺乏这类产品,它们就很可能被淘汰出局。”

微软当然也知道开发商群体的支持力度是WP7能否获得成功的关键因素,所以针对这一群体提供了大量的资源和支持。

Watson表示,这一点非常重要,所以他们得尽量为开发商创造面向WP7开发产品的条件,否则WP7就很难获得竞争筹码。

游戏邦发现,有不少各种规模的应用开发商已看好WP7平台的发展潜力,有意面向WP7开发应用。串流媒体公司Rdio的工程副总裁兼首席技术官Todd Berman表示,他们很有兴趣成为WP7首航合作伙伴,因为微软一贯擅长与开发商打交道,而且具有强大的市场营销优势,WP7最终会争取到庞大的用户人群。据他所称,“用户可能在手机、台式电脑或平板电脑上使用我们的服务,所以我们很有必要面向这些平台投放产品,微软是一个理想的合作伙伴,因为它在多个领域都很有影响力。”

不过也有一些开发商并不急于加入WP7的应用开发阵营。首先,多数应用开发商的资源有限,所以锁定一个拥有最多用户的平台,比如苹果iOS,对他们来说才有创造更大利润的胜算。

Ianni认为,不少开发商正持观望态度来看待WP7的发展,也许等到WP7手机销量达到一个临界点时,才会有更多开发商开始采取行动。游戏邦认为,微软与诺基亚结盟有可能化解这一难题。Berman表示,“微软与诺基亚的合作证实了我们支持WP7的决定是正确的,诺基亚仍然是手机设备的代名词,他们是世界杰出的手机硬件制造商。”

不过微软与诺基亚的牵手能否开花结果,却仍然有待观察,因为第一款诺基亚WP7手机在今年底才可能问世,而这些手机可能到2012年才会大量出货。

对小型开发商来说,这个时间有点太长了,所以他们暂时无法将WP7作为首选。例如,苹果App Store目前排名第八的付费游戏《BallFallDown》豪华版的开发商FlatPack Interactive,就已明确表示暂不考虑WP7平台。《BallFallDown》豪华版现在仅限运行于iPad平台,该公司创始人Paul Zimmer表示有意将旗下游戏移植到Android平板电脑,也计划在拥有空余资源时,为苹果iPhone和Android智能手机开发新游戏,“就我们目前的运营情况来说,WP7还不在我们的考虑范围内,说实话,WP7在今年内还不会有理想的用户数量,向WP7平台进军对我们来说是不现实的,如果真这么做的话,我们的项目运营有可能出问题。”

争取成为开发商的第三种选择

据游戏邦所知,iOS和Android已经是开发商的两大明确目标,但这两者之外的第三种选择,却仍然没有定数。RIM的黑莓手机平台拥有大量的用户数量,但有不少开发商抱怨这个平台的应用开发难度太大。而WebOS虽然是一个很出色的开发平台,但用户规模却不甚理想。

为了让WP7成为“第三大手机平台”,微软为开发商推出了多项鼓励政策。Watson表示,有许多传言称微软正向开发商大把撒钱,但他并不清楚这个传言从何而来,只知道事实并非如此。据他所述,微软与开发商的合作涉及了一些资金补助,以及微软Marketplace的应用推广服务、技术和创收支持等。

Watson表示,“我们正想方设法让开发商在WP7上获得成功,希望可以帮他们创造财富和影响力,只有我们的合作伙伴赚到钱了,微软才能算是成功的。”

不过他并没有透露微软与特殊应用开发商之间的合作内容,但表示微软与开发商之间的合作深度不尽相同。例如,最成功的应用开发商有机会与微软进行一对一的接触和沟通,微软也会尽全力为他们提供创建应用的资金和技术支持。但因为这个工作流程很复杂,所以微软不可能为所有开发商提供相同的服务。Watson认为芬兰开发商Rovio很有可能成为获得这种特殊待遇的开发商。

为了增强鼓励政策的成效,扩大WP7平台的开发商规模,微软还向他们提供了相关的技术培训支持,帮助他们更好地在WP7平台上创收,并在Marketplace开辟专栏,用于推广特定的应用产品。

据ComScore调查显示,谷歌Android平台已成当前的美国手机操作系统冠军,但它刚出道时也同样面临争取开发商的难题,不过在威瑞森等大型运营商开始支持Android平台后,该平台的市场占有率获得了突飞猛进的发展。除此之外,Andorid移动设备销量的不断扩大,也推动了这些设备的应用数量增长。

Ianni表示,要形成这种滚雪球的效应是很困难的,但只要形成了这种局面,开发商与手机平台就可以形成一种互助互惠的关系。Android现在就处于这种情况,苹果在两年前也是如此,现在微软WP7也能由此找到突破口。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

Microsoft’s mobile fortunes tied to app developers

PopCap Games doesn’t usually race to be among the first to develop for a new platform of any sort, be it a console or a mobile operating system. But the company is breaking from its tradition and working hard on porting its popular Plants vs. Zombies game to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform.

“With Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 we saw a strategic opportunity,” said Garth Chouteau, vice president of public relations for PopCap.

Before you scoff, don’t think the developers at Popcap have blown a gasket. Chouteau said that even though there isn’t yet a large installed base of Windows Phone 7 devices on the market, he expects that there will be…in time. Microsoft has good relationships with developers, has historically worked well with them, and it’s built a gaming ecosystem for its Xbox games, which could be important for Popcap’s gaming audience.

What’s more, Microsoft has recently struck a deal with Nokia, the leading handset maker in the world, to put its operating system on all future smartphones designed by Nokia. All this gives Popcap and other developers plenty of reason to view Microsoft as an important mobile operating system platform.

“We think it will be a popular mobile platform,” he said. “And we like to have our games available in every appropriate place where our customers prefer to play.”

When Microsoft decided to scrap its earlier mobile operating system to develop its revamped Windows Phone 7 platform, released in October, the software giant’s goal was modest: simply getting back in the game. And if mobile developer interest is any indication, Microsoft has achieved that.

The company is already signing up big names to the platform, such as Rovio, which developed the popular game Angry Birds. Getting A-list apps is akin to scoring a Nordstrom or Macy’s as an anchor store at a mall. It gives people a reason to come to that particular mobile platform, because they know they can get apps they’ve heard of or tried on other platforms.

There’s other evidence that Windows Phone 7 is gaining traction among developers. The company Urban Airship, which helps develops mobile applications for some 7,000 brands, surveyed its customers early in 2011 to get a sense of their priorities in the coming year. According to that survey, which was done in January before Microsoft announced it would partner with Nokia, nearly 25 percent of its brand customers said they were planning to develop mobile applications for Windows Phone 7 in 2011. This is up from only 5.9 percent who actually said they developed apps for Windows Phone 7 in 2010.

But even though Windows Phone 7 is on the radar screen for many brands and developers, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android development continue to dominate–by far–the world of mobile developers. According to Urban Airship’s survey, 99.5 percent of brands last year developed apps for Apple’s iOS and about 44 percent developed apps for Google’s Android platform. In 2011, 90.5 percent of brands surveyed said they had plans to develop for iOS and about 74 percent said they planned to develop apps for Android.

Still, for a company that was all but forgotten in the mobile market a little over a year ago, growing interest from developers has to be taken as some glimmer of good news. And indeed it is at Microsoft.

“We have already had a lot of success so far,” said Brandon Watson, director of developer experience for Windows Phone 7 at Microsoft. “Developers are making money. Some people may try to compare us to existing platforms. But you have to consider where we’ve come from in just a few short months.”

Indeed, Microsoft only has about 9,000 apps in its Marketplace compared with Apple’s 350,000 plus apps in the Apple App Store. But Watson said that Microsoft is adding at least 100 new apps a day, and it has already registered more than 32,000 app developers to create applications for its platform.

Quality vs. Quantity
The number and quality of mobile apps on any smartphone platform is absolutely critical in terms of attracting customers for devices. Smartphones today are less about voice communications and almost entirely all about apps and what people can do with these devices.

“Whether you’re an operating system developer or you make mobile handsets or tablets or you’re a connected-car manufacturer, what differentiates your product from someone else’s are the apps and software,” said Andrew Ianni, founder and president of AppNation, a conference and event company focused on the business app economy. “That is why all these companies are courting developers. It’s why a thriving app marketplace is so critical. If these companies don’t have that, then they’re out of the conversation.”

Microsoft understands the importance of the developer community in terms of the overall success of Windows Phone 7. And the company has devoted a significant amount of resources to getting developers on board with the platform.

“Honestly, it’s the only thing that matters,” Watson said. “That means we must give developers what they need to develop for our platform. And if we don’t, we lose.”

Many large to medium-size app developers are putting Windows Phone 7 on their roadmaps because they see the potential in the platform.

Todd Berman, CTO and vice president of engineering for the streaming media company Rdio, said that his company felt compelled to be a Windows Phone 7 launch partner because based on Microsoft’s history of working with developers and pushing into markets it feels are important, it will eventually have a sizable customer base.

“Our customers need to be able to use our service on whatever device they want whether that’s a phone or a desktop or a tablet,” Berman said. “So it’s important for us to be on those devices. Microsoft is one of the more interesting players because of its ability to be in a lot of spaces.”

But some developers are not ready to take the plunge into WP7 development just yet. For many, it’s a chicken and egg problem. App developers have a finite amount of resources, and it’s more lucrative for them target the platforms with the most users, which to date has been Apple’s iOS platform.

“Collectively, I think app developers are taking a wait and see approach,” Ianni said. “The developer community is impressed with the OS. It’s reasonably easy to develop for, but there hasn’t been a mass movement to develop for it yet because developers are still waiting for the tipping point in terms of device sales.”

This is where Microsoft’s deal with Nokia could help. Nokia announced last month that it will scrap its existing Symbian OS and base all future Nokia phones on Windows Phone 7. Even though Nokia has been losing market share over the past several quarters, the Finnish device maker still sells more mobile handsets than any other manufacturer.

“The deal between Microsoft and Nokia validated our original decision to support the WP7 platform,” Berman said. “Nokia is still synonymous with cell phones. And they are the pre-eminent mobile hardware maker out there.”

But it will take time for Microsoft to see the fruits of the Nokia deal. The first Nokia Windows Phone 7 device isn’t expected to hit the market until late this year. And handsets won’t ship in volume until sometime in 2012.

For smaller developers, this time line is too long to make Windows Phone 7 a priority. For example, FlatPack Interactive, which currently holds the No. 8 spot for paid apps in Apple’s App Store with its game BallFallDown Deluxe, is not yet considering developing for Windows Phone 7. Currently, BallFallDown Deluxe is only available for the iPad. Paul Zimmer, founder of FlatPack Interactive, hopes to port the company’s existing game to Android tablets soon. And he said the company also plans to develop new games for Apple’s iPhone and Android smartphones as soon as it can free up resources.

“Given where we are in our business right now, Windows Phone 7 isn’t even on our radar,” Zimmer said. “Honestly, for something that won’t have a reasonable installed base for a year, it’s just not realistic for us. We could be out of business by then.”

The race for third place
While it’s clear now that developers must develop apps for iOS and Android, the decision of which platform to address next is still up in the air for many. Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platform still has a large installed base. But developers complain that it’s a difficult platform to develop for. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard’s WebOS, which the company bought from Palm, is great software to develop for, but has a very small installed base.

To ensure that its platform is the “third OS,” Microsoft has offered developers incentives to build apps for Windows Phone 7.

“There are rumors going around that Microsoft is throwing big bags of money at developers,” he said. “I’m not sure if this rumor originated from the same place as leprechauns sitting at the end of the rainbow with a big pot of gold. But that’s not really how it works.”

Watson said there are deals that have been struck that involve monetary assistance for developers, but there are also marketing incentives that will help promote the apps in the Microsoft Marketplace. There is also technical assistance and help in merchandising apps in the Marketplace. And there will even be times when Microsoft seeks an exclusive for an app.

“We are figuring out what works and how to engage with developers so that they can be successful,” he said. “We want to make them rich and famous. Microsoft can only be a success if our partners make money.”

Watson wouldn’t talk about specific deals struck with particular app developers, but he said the depth of engagement with developers varies. For example, the most successful app developers will get one-on-one interaction with Microsoft. The company will ensure there are sufficient monetary and technical resources to build the app. Because this is such an intensive process, Microsoft can’t do this with every app developer. But he said that Rovio, the developer of Angry Birds, would likely fall into this category.

To scale the incentive program globally to include thousands and tens of thousands of app developers, Microsoft offers events for technical training. It also help developers better merchandise and market their apps. Microsoft carves out spots in the Marketplace to promote certain apps, which is huge especially for lesser name apps.

Google’s Android platform, which is now the No. 1 mobile OS in the U.S., according to ComScore, had similar problems attracting new developers in its early days. But once big carriers, such as Verizon Wireless started pushing the platform as an alternative to AT&T’s exclusive iPhone in the U.S., the Android platform gained steam. And as more Android devices were sold, more app developers created applications for these devices.

“It’s hard sometimes to get the snowball rolling,” said Ianni. “But once it gets going, then it’s a virtuous circle that keeps building and feeding off each other. Android is in the middle of it now. Apple was there two years ago. And Microsoft could find itself there as well down the road.”(source:cnet.com)


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