Microsoft on Tuesday made policy changes and hit a milestone for Windows Phone 7. The company is now getting closer to Android and Apple iOS policies and will let publishers certify a free app as many as 100 times without paying the developer fee a second time. It had previously capped the limit at five and discouraged publishers from offering more than a few feature additions or fixes.
Better Open Source Support
Microsoft has allowed for some open source apps, unlike Apple, it now more directly includes licenses such as the Eclipse Public License and Mozilla Public License. More open-source policies could be approved in the future, Microsoft said.
Microsoft has also made it optional to include contact information instead of mandatory, which has its pro and cons. The stance should speed the app approval process but carries the risk of leaving customers stranded if an app stops working properly or does damage.
Windows Phone & Grows Faster than BlackBerry World
Microsoft used the policy switch to tout its reaching 9,000 apps. The growth made the store three times larger than what it was just a month after launch and is far faster than BlackBerry App World, which took a year and a half to get to 10,000. Android and iOS are still well ahead with over 100,000 and 350,000 apps respectively.
The credit for the relatively fast growth was given in part to support for trial apps. Almost 10 percent of trial downloads lead to paid versions, Microsoft said, and often as quickly as two hours later. Paid apps with trial versions were 70 times more likely to be downloaded than those that insisted on the full amount up front.
