[whydidnt]

Originally Posted by heliod

I know that Apple has some 50,000 applications in there, but let's face it, 40,000 of them aren't worth 99 cents.

I would guess from this comment that you really haven't looked at the applications available for the iPhone. There are a lot of very high quality applications available for a $.99, or $2.99 or $4.99. Just because you may not have interest in an entertainment application for $.99 doesn't mean it's crap.

Originally Posted by heliod

On the other hand, from the nearly 20,000 WM applications that I have seen, around 75% of them are worth the 15-30 dollars that the developers request for them.

Please, 75%??? You've seen 15,000 quality WM applications that are worth more than $15.00? I'll take your word for it, but I've been using WM for a decade, and I doubt I've seen even 200 applications that I would spend more than $15.00 for.

Originally Posted by heliod

As someone that has developped apps in my past (for computers, not for phones), if you want good, professional apps, you need to let the developer make a living out of it. The iTunes store is all about canibalizing the developers. Considering the apps cost 99 cents and 30% of it stays for Apple, this means that if a developer has 100,000 downloads (and everyone here understands how difficult this may be) in 2 years he has made 35K per year, not enough to pay simple bills in the US.

So, a developer that spent a few months writing an application needs to make more than 35K per year off of that one application for it be viable? I don't agree, if this is full time work, the developer will create additional applications that will also earn 35K per year and be able to make a decent living. These are applications, not works of art that the developers should be able to live off of for the rest of their lives. Your argument is only relevant if you can prove the developer makes more selling a WM application at $20 in lower volume. So far the market has proven you wrong as developers are flocking to the iPhone and abandoning Windows Mobile.

Originally Posted by heliod

So I believe the current model is much more fit to my needs, and surely, to the developer's needs.

Except developers don't agree with you, they are preferring to develop for the platform that is attracting users, not losing them. I still maintain one of the reasons for the iPhone's success is the wide availability of GOOD, cheap applications.

There are many, many quality applications for the iPhone. From a gaming standpoint WM is not even in the same league as far as professionally developed applications, and almost all of the iPhone apps are less than $10.00. Is EA losing money each time someone buys the Sims, or Madden for the iPhone? Why have we seen official iPhone releases of Doom, Duke Nuke'em , etc, when those developers have ignored WM for years? Why does Ilium charge $9.95 for the iPhone application, but $29.95 for the WM application? They are both high quality applications, but Ilium knows that they will make up the difference in volume on the iPhone. Otherwise, if it wasn't worth their time they wouldn't bother.

This is why I think it's foolish for Microsoft to try an artificially inflate the price of applications for their platform. As you say the applications make the platform, and right now, the applications available for the iPhone are driving people to that platform. Other than PIM related applications, I challenge you to name non-custom applications that you use on WM that are either unavailable on the iPhone , or if available, offer poorer functionality. Apple has messed up the PIM stuff by not allowing developers access to the built in databases, I will grant you that. Other than things like Pocket Informant, I have yet to come across any other apps that I miss moving from WM to the iPhone.