Windows store ‘has a lot of potential’

With the release of the new Microsoft Surface tablet, a lot of focus has been placed on the Windows Store. I have been playing with a Surface myself now for a week and I have to say, I am actually quite impressed with it. Sure, it is a little ‘clunky' at times and there can be delays handling some processes, but overall I think Microsoft have delivered a great tablet. Windows 8 actually works quite well in a tablet environment too.

Research firm Distimo have taken a look at the first month results of Microsoft's Windows Store for apps and the results are actually impressive.

Distimo are based in the Netherlands and their analysis shows that there are already 20,000 applications in the Store. Obviously this is minor when compared against the Apple or Android stores, but the download rates are apparently high.

The report said the daily download volume among the 300 most popular apps was ‘already three times higher than the volume among the top 300 most popular applications in the Apple Mac App Store”.

The report added “Not only is Microsoft doing a good job in promoting local content, it also means that Microsoft successfully persuaded local publishers to develop for a platform and an app store that still has to prove itself.”

In the Apple store, 84 percent of content is paid, in Google Play, 35 percent of applications are paid for. The Windows store only has 14 percent which are paid for, and 86 percent are free.

Distimo concluded with the Windows Store has “a lot of potential. This is not only because the number of potential customers will quickly grow because of the reach of Windows, but also because Microsoft seems to have copied a few best practices from its competitors and implemented them well, Splitting the tablet and desktop store and focusing on local content are both promising strategies.”

Kitguru says: Personally I have been really impressed with the Netflix application on the Surface, the image quality is very good, streaming times have been clearly optimised and the interface has been well designed.

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