[WyattEarp]

Let's start with the fact that most users of WM who don't even know what OS is on their device didn't purchase their device because of the WM name, all the extra functions it has, it's many capabilities, or much less care about the OS itself. They bought it because the phone looked cool, it was free or discounted with a contract, or on the advise of someone else who knows more about phones than they do. That being said a WM App Store is not going to change their thoughts or leverage WM any better than it already has been. People like this don't really purchase applications in any kind of way in the mobile or desktop arenas from what I have seen. And for the ones that do, the apps they purchase are some of the most useless and free ones available. Just look at the countless amount of "fart" apps that have been downloaded in Apple's App Store. You can even go as far back as the Palm OS during it's prime with all the links to free apps you could find far out numbering paid apps. These are not the tech savvy people an App Store will really appeal to in a big way. The App Store is also not what makes the iPhone a hit. WM came out in 1996 as Windows CE and has gone through numerous UI and name changes. So if Microsoft or anyone else thinks WM needs an App Store for "full" market penetration then WM might as well call it a day and close up shop right now. An App Store does not equate to a good mobile OS nor will it cure what is wrong with the OS.

A WM App Store is not going to fix Apple's App Store issues either only Apple can fix those which aren't that many to begin with. WM will have enough of their own issues to contend with. Beginning with the likes of Pocket Gear's own App Store. And if the soul point is to dethrone the iPhone then I guess no one really likes competition. As history has shown; when there is no competition there is also no motivation to improve. Prime example: WM has had no real worthwhile improvements since Pocket PC 2003 SE and Windows Mobile 5.0. Palm had their time, followed by Windows Mobile and now the iPhone. The market is currently saturated with mobile devices with Nokia being number one, followed by Microsoft and RIM, leaving the iPhone with lots of room to grow. It's harder to grow if the majority of people already have your device or it is geared to a certain segment of the market as with Microsoft and RIM. Which leads into my next point.

Since the iPhone was introduced Microsoft and RIM have been scurrying around to compete as if there was never anything wrong with their products before hand and that no one would dare challenge them in this market. "We know what our customers want" is the the general attitude and response from these companies. So let's just continue to add features like multi-touch, UI on top of UI, more form-factors, and App Stores to compete with the iPhone. So who's really being treated like children here. I find this an insult to our intelligence. Give us real fixes for the real issues with the OS and maybe more people will buy the product and others will stop leaving. Large amounts of memory for instance has been virtually non-existent in most every WM device with the exception of the ones from HP and HTC which are the only ones I know of right off hand. Just about every smartphone manufacturer is stuck on 128MB and 256MB, it's 2009 not 1999 get with the program. Removable media has it's place but it should not be the primary nor the default place for the storage of apps and documents. It needs to be on the device. Then we have multi-Touch in the form of Touch-Flo, compliments of HTC which is nothing more than a gimmick at best. It's pasted onto a task manager with a pretty UI on top of the WM UI to immulate the iPhone. Come on now, all that fluff disappears once you go into an application. This is not what we need. Multi-touch for it to be worth anything has to be built into the UI, uniform through every app made for the device with gestures that are natural and makes sense.

Also, with the creation of the WM App Store, what is a developer suppose to do now after the OS is already matured. There are no real new developers coming to the scene not to mention there are actually less developers now then there where just 4 years ago. Also are current developers suppose to make deals with Microsoft and keep their current contracts with the other App Stores like Handango, Pocket Gear, etc. That seems like it would be spreading profits really thin here. Or are they to drop all contracts and solely deal with Microsoft.

Finally, is just how seamlessly Apple's App Store works with the iPhone and iTunes. While I personally don't care about having *.cab files or the lack thereof, some users do. Apple hasn't eliminated *.cab files per say, as all the apps are stored on your PC in the form of *.ipa files. What Apple has done that all the others are failing to do, is make it easier for the tech savvy and joe consumer to keep track of their apps even when they are not at their PC. All these WM, and BB App Stores have not figured that one out yet. You still have to log in to your account at what ever site you purchased the software from and go into your profile and manually look up the software you purchased; say nothing about what's currently installed on your device. You have to look on your device for that information. From the iPhone, looking up any piece of software in the App Store that is currently installed will state right there on the apps description page "INSTALLED". If you previously deleted said app and go to download it again, you'll get a pop up message stating you already purchased this app would you like to download it again. No serial numbers, no user names, no activation codes, just enter your iTunes account password, tap okay and your done. Clean, simple and fast. The software installs and is read to use.
Upgrading to a newer iPhone is also easier as restoring from a backup will put all your apps plus everything else on the new iPhone with no problem just like it was with the old. WM still can't do this as easily either. These are some of the things that truly make Apple's App Store and the iPhone itself uniquely powerful and better than the competition. While there are somethings I miss from WM that aren't on the iPhone and vice-versa an App Store is definitely not one of them. WM has so many other issues to improve upon but instead Microsoft prefers to distract us from the real issues with the OS by focusing users on things like an un-unified App Store and multi-touch.

So until Microsoft fixes the real issues with WM they will continue to lose market share as they have been even before the iPhone was released. IMO they are in a similar predicament as Palm was in 2005, when it comes to furthering innovation in the OS. There is not much else they can do except fix the existing issues and completely change the UI which I don't see them doing. Since some of this will require a completely new OS which will break ties with current software not to mention have Microsoft start all over again which they probably don't want to do nor are they prepared for. Just my $0.02 on some of the real issues.