While the Windows 10 Store admittedly isn"t as large in terms of apps as Google"s Play Store or Apple"s App Store, it does excel in some areas; including offering AAA titles to gamers such as Gears of War, Tomb Raider and Forza Motorsport 6, among others. Now, in an interview with Forbes, Microsoft has shared some new insights on its Store.
Lisa Gurry, Senior Director of Windows at Microsoft states that in the almost ten months since Windows 10 became available for free, the Store has enjoyed more than 6.5 billion visits. This translates to 18 million views per day, more than 742,000 per hour and almost 200 every second. The executive also claimed that ever since the dawn of the Universal Windows Platform, developers have shown an increased interest as compared to Windows 8, because developers can now build apps for all Windows platforms including Xbox One, using roughly the same code.
The company also stated that with Windows 10, engagement had doubled and developers could earn four times the revenue per user as compared to Windows 8; which is not entirely surprising considering that the latter failed at nearly everything it set out to accomplish. Similarly, exclusive features like Live Tiles, Xbox Live and Windows Hello, enables developers to create more immersive and interactive experiences for consumers.
Various tools like Xamarin and Project Centennial have also been making it easier for developers to port existing Win32 and .NET based apps to the Universal Windows Platform.
While the operating system is still relatively new and available for free for the time being, the numbers are quite impressive. However, with Windows 10 Mobile facing further scale backs, especially for consumers, and the company facing competition from Google; which is also looking to bring the Play Store to Chrome OS, it"ll be interesting to see if the Windows Store gains momentum among developers and consumers alike in the near future.
Source: Forbes via MSPoweruser