[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Windows 8 app releases grind to a near-complete halt here

[agrippa]

You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, and Microsoft has tons of eggs to spare. Ironically Microsoft has no idea how to make A good omelette.

[John2jio]

Oh ! Brad are you trying to piss off the Microsoft Marketing Trolls ?

[berock212]

Microsoft isn't getting apps because developers aren't seeing the growth in Windows 8. And developers aren't seeing growth because people aren't buying windows 8. Microsoft has slightly larger market share than OS X but it has roughly 4x the apps. Most developers are doing the math and seeing that there is not a large enough user base to put there app on. Microsoft simply needs a bigger user base if they want developers. And usually you need more apps to get users but Microsoft is a exception because they legacy apps. People wont buy the surface rt because it doesn't have enough apps, but the surface pro should be successful because you can use any legacy app. If Microsoft doesn't screw up the surface pro launch then it should be successful, and if the surface pro and other Windows 8 hardware is successful then you will see more apps. If Microsoft want to jump start the number of apps they get without getting a larger user base then they should make it so you can run Windows phone apps on desktop, which would add 120 000 apps to the apps store. Also Microsoft could pay developers to make apps.

[TsarNikky]

Maybe its because Windows-8, being oriented to tablet users, gamers, and casual users, has a limited growth potential. Why would one want to "downgrade" from a full-sized full-featured laptop or desktop running Windows-7? Convenience of an expensive small hand-held device?

[AsokAsus]

It's all pretty much unfolding just as I (and many other analysts) have been predicting for weeks. At this point in the game, Windows RT/Metro UI is in a death spiral. No apps, no sales, no sales, no apps. Besides, who in their right mind would invest financial resources into making quality apps for a device (any Windows RT device) where it is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE for hundreds of millions of users to read their POP3 email? And that on a device that is designed PRIMARILY for reading email and surfing the web!

With the death of Windows RT goes the whole rational for the excrable Metro UI on Windows 8, and Windows 8 is already the most hated operating system ever because of Metro UI.

Disaster, disaster, disaster. Fail, fail, fail.

Oh, and to complete the hat trick, in less than a quarter we're going to find out that sales of the Surface Pro are "disappointing".

[ee2718]

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Maybe its because Windows-8, being oriented to tablet users, gamers, and casual users, has a limited growth potential. Why would one want to "downgrade" from a full-sized full-featured laptop or desktop running Windows-7? Convenience of an expensive small hand-held device?

No, for the luxury of running your Windows app on a small screen and second rate keyboard and track pad, on a painfully slow tarted up thinly disguised dual core Atom netbook with not enough hard drive space and having to pay through the nose for it. Who wouldn't revel in that?

[statwiz]

This is a very misleading article, and the writer doesn't seem know how to interpret graphs or stats. The flat gray line in the graph shows that app are being add at a *steady* pace, that is, the growth rate is steady, not that the growth rate is declining. When you say they have come to a 'grinding halt', the interpretation is that app submissions have stopped, or that the growth is declining. The graph doesn't show that. If it had stopped then the line would go downwards. As to why it is holding so remarkably steady over weeks, the writer doesn't seem to have considered one, probably likely, interpretation -- the apps are probably being added to the store by MS at a certain rate each week -- not that developers are not submitting apps. Also, the first sub-heading is very misleading. Given that this store is new, it basically went from zero apps to whatever the first set of numbers were (sort of like a car accelerating from zero to 60). Hence the first linear trend upwards. After that it holds steady because after it goes from zero to whatever, the rate at which the apps are being added to the store is being held steady -- that is, it is on cruise control.

[statwiz]

After that it holds steady because after it goes from zero to whatever, the rate at which the apps are being added to the store is being held steady -- that is, it is on cruise control.

[madapo]

Windows 8 store design sucks and apps awful.
"What are you doing Microsoft?
Only loses costumers and google laugh."

[statwiz]

Sorry, the last sentence in my previous post should have read, "After that it holds steady because the rate at which the apps are being added to the store is being held steady -- that is, it is on cruise control.

[eye4bear]

I run Windows 8 on two computers a desktop and a new (non touch) Samsung laptop and NEVER use the awful Metro dumbed down apps or start screen.

[kevinski]

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Microsoft isn't getting apps because developers aren't seeing the growth in Windows 8. And developers aren't seeing growth because people aren't buying windows 8.

People are buying Windows 8. They're just using it like Windows 7.

[AsokAsus]

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This is a very misleading article, and the writer doesn't seem know how to interpret graphs or stats. The flat gray line in the graph shows that app are being add at a steady pace, that is, the growth rate is steady, not that the growth rate is declining.

Nope. The growth RATE is zero. i.e., flat-lined. YOU are the one deficient in math. No doubt you've never heard of the first or second derivatives of a function, have you?

[hx129]

This is a very misleading article. Just look at the x-axis of the graph. The first couple of samples are apps added per months, and later samples are apps added per day. Of course the graph would look like flatted out in this way. So strange no one noticed that.

[WiredNerve]

You don't need to purchase your apps from the app store first off and many of the products already released for previous versions of windows will run on the new platform already. I don't think there is going to be a big push for at least another year which is the general adoption rate of new versions of windows anyway. In the end, it will be the enterprise applications that drive the software and games...

[jcbottorff]

[

Quote

This is a very misleading article, and the writer doesn't seem know how to interpret graphs or stats. The flat gray line in the graph shows that app are being add at a steady pace, that is, the growth rate is steady, not that the growth rate is declining store is being held steady...

I looked at the original graph too, and have to agree with statwiz, the graph shows a constant RATE of app growth, not a constant NUMBER of apps. Let's do some quick calculation on the RATE of app growth in the iPhone app store (http://en.wikipedia..../App_Store_(iOS)) So 1/7/13 to 1/28/13 it says it grew from 775,000 to 800,000, so that's 1,190 apps/day growth. Note the article said the Windows app store grew 415/day in late December; nearly half the total number of apps/day as the 20x larger iPhone store. There are a lot of missing data points in the iPhone store data, and the data clears shows the uneven changes, but if we look at about 6 months earlier, 3/7/12 to 6/11/12 saw in increase of 65K apps in 96 days, so 677 apps/day. This suggests apps/day might be related to total store size. If we scale based on the total store size using the latest data, we get a growth of %0.15/day for the iPhone store, and using the numbers from the article for the Windows app store, 137 new apps/day for a store with 40K apps, that’s %0.34/day, more than twice. I can’t say the data supports the writers conclusion!

[Rockartisten]

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Nope. The growth RATE is zero. i.e., flat-lined. YOU are the one deficient in math. No doubt you've never heard of the first or second derivatives of a function, have you?

Nope!

Growth: 2562 apps
Time: 15 Days
Growth rate: 2562/15=171 apps/day

Growth jan 1-24: 168 apps/day

What we are seeing is a slight growth acceleration, but it's negligible.

[MacNewton]

Lets compare Microsoft's Windows 8 to your family pet . If your pet's hit by a truck and survives you take it to your local veterinarian. If you have the money to pay for a major operation, you may end up saving it. Or if you're a little sort on cash you soon realize that you will need to pull the plug!

So my question is this, when will Microsoft do the right thing and pull the plug on 8 ? Should Microsoft label it as a failure like Microsoft Me . PC World has ranked Me #4 in their worst tech products of all time list, will 8 move up the list?

What say you, are you ready to wait for 9?

[RenzoLazarte]

Why are so many apps that necessary? Who is going to use that many? Wouldnt quality over quantity be better or does windows need thousands of scamware/fake/pirate apps the gayOs devices have?