Windows Phone devices may not have the market share of Apple"s iOS products but that doesn"t mean an app developer can"t make some money from developing Windows Phone programs. In a new blog entry on the Anlock web site, the developer of educational apps for young children says that making apps for Windows Phone 7 has yielded some surprising results.
One app, First Words: Learning Animals, was launched in July for both Windows Phone and iOS. The iOS app actually has some features that are not in the WP7 version. Also the iOS version got a big marketing campaign while little to no marketing was done for the Windows Phone app version.
Yet, the Windows Phone version of the same app has now generated a whopping five times as many sales as the iOS version, according to Anlock (specific sales numbers were not revealed).
The developer says the reason is a simple one
Apple has 500.000+ apps on the App Store compared to only 30.000+ on the Windows Phone Marketplace. The potential, in terms of devices in the market, of the App Store is huge compared to that of the Marketplace but, at the same time, there is fierce competition and a LOT of noise in the App Store, making it extremely difficult to stand out.
So if you are an app developer who wants to make some money, perhaps the massive iOS App Store might actually be a disadvantage while the smaller size of the Windows Phone Marketplace could make your app stand out from the crowd.