Microsoft to mobile developers: Your app is worth more than 99¢ |
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Microsoft to mobile developers: Your app is worth more than 99¢
In Redmond today, Microsoft is holding the first in a series of "dev camps" for mobile application developers, gearing up for the launch of the Windows Marketplace for Mobile this fall, attempting to challenge the Apple App Store for iPhone. One of the Redmond company's messages for the developers: Don't be shy when it comes to pricing a premium app.
"It's up to you play your pricing, but we would definitely want to promote that you make more money selling applications than selling your application in a dollar store," said Loke Uei of Microsoft's Mobile Developer Experience Team, explaining why the company will use revenue, not download volume, to determine the winner in the paid category of its Race to Market Challenge. "I know, 99 cents is interesting -- yes, consumers like to pay 99 cents for applications. But 99 cents, come on, I think your app is worth more than that."
The comments shed light on Microsoft's third-party application strategy as it prepares to launch the Mobile Marketplace. Downloads are the metric being used in the "free" category of the contest. But when it comes to premium apps, Uei said, instead of having a million downloads for 99 cents, for example, developers could try for 500,000 downloads at $9.99.
"Your app can be worth $5.99 or $9.99, whatever the amount is, and you should be able to make more money with it," Uei said. "In that way, we also promote higher-quality applications for a higher price -- a good price."
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Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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