Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) knows it needs to do more to make potential Windows Phone developers happy, and last week the company took two big steps in that direction.
The company announced in a blog post that it had merged Windows Store and Windows Phone developer accounts. Microsoft also said it would offer a unified registration experience and lowered its annual pricing to $19 for an individual and $99 for a company account.
Big announcement: Microsoft is unifying the Windows Phone and Windows Store experience for devs - http://t.co/J29Bw65uCn #wpdev #windev
— Tom Verhoeff (@tomverhoeff) November 6, 2013
Microsoft has merged #Windows & #WindowsPhone developer accounts, that smells good :) (via @DevAnywhere: http://t.co/VpF9zNF0Du)
— Sébastien Vitard (@Doc_1faux) November 7, 2013
Although the $99 fee will still apply to companies submitting apps, the drop to $19 for individuals may reflect the growing number of indie or one-man shops creating software for Windows Phone.
Great news for Lone-Wolves looking to develop for the Windows Platform. http://t.co/830c2pS8Gp
— Jeevan Geo Philip (@JGPhilip) November 7, 2013
Some suggested Microsoft was simply catching up to the reality within its app ecosystem today.
Nice to see Microsoft slowly unifying Windows and Windows Phone (dev reg now). They're basically 95% the same anyway for Store on 8.
— Richard Raybould (@RichardR) November 7, 2013
Others suggested Microsoft still had some work to do with some of its other products.
As a web dev, this makes me happy http://t.co/TuKSTtyQTb if only IE7 and IE8 could go die somewhere
— Benjamin Horn (@thq1beije) November 7, 2013
Beyond the price point, the real appeal for some developers was in having fewer accounts to manage.
Really looking forward to "One Windows" and one store... http://t.co/JjLpNuEqYs http://t.co/w0wb0UNSy5
— Dane Young (@youngtech) November 7, 2013
Of course, not everyone was thrilled, some suggesting Microsoft needed to move even more quickly to secure developers' love.
@TheNextWeb @EPro @Zee too little too late
— Amanda (@amandafclark) November 6, 2013