With India traditionally being the largest app developer for Nokia, Microsoft is expecting it to rub off on the larger Windows Phone Store. With more than 10% of the 2.5 lakh apps on Windows Phone Store being developed by Indian techies, Microsoft is taking initiatives to leverage the country’s app development potential as it tries to compete with Apple’s App Store and Android Play Store, each with more than a million apps.
The recent launch of the Windows 8.1 software update is a step forward in helping developers port their existing apps to a universal Windows platform. Microsoft says it has contributed to the renewed vigour in app development for the Windows Store across devices. While the number of apps for the PC market stands at 1.4 lakh, Microsoft has seen more than two billion app downloads from its store.?
Nokia ran a successful programme called ?Develop? where developers could write an app and earn rewards from the device manufacturer. The most number of developers for Nokia were Indian and the most number of apps were also generated out of India.
“Surely now they will come into Windows Store and that is why more than 10% apps in Windows Store come from India. We had incredible enthusiasm for Nokia in India before it became part of Microsoft and it has grown after being part of Microsoft,” said Joseph Landes, general manager, developer experience & evangelism at Microsoft India.
