Microsoft Announces Marketplace

As expected, Microsoft has announced their Windows Mobile application marketplace at CTIA. I have no great interest in Windows Mobile other than to compare their approach to that taken by Google with the Android Market. Last week I wrote about some of the difficulties with Android and why they are important for commercial success.

I could say that Microsoft is doing a better marketing job than Google but, to be quite frank, everyone does a better marketing job than Google. Let's look at a few items that I believe demonstrate that Microsoft's approach is superior to that of Google, and possibly even to that of Apple and the iPhone application market.

• Carrier billing: Applications can be purchased and billed to a credit card or to their phone bill. This is a tremendous advantage in that it lowers the barriers for a consumer to pay. There is no need to sign up for (another) payment system, no added layer of verification, and utter simplicity. There is a price for Microsoft in this, which is my next point.
• Carrier partnership: Microsoft shares a portion of their 30% cut of the application sale (seemingly a now standard percentage) with the carrier. That money pays for marketing leverage and cooperation. Not only will the carrier be disinclined to compete with Microsoft in future with their own app store, Microsoft and, importantly, the 3rd party developers get the leverage of the carrier's own superlative marketing organizations. Apple may be able to go their own way due to their strong brand, but for all the rest this can be a very wise move.
• Favourable returns policy: If a user returns a product, the developer suffers no net cost; Microsoft absorbs the transaction costs. Unlike Apple and Google, Microsoft is hereby promising to treat their developer community with respect rather than as a cow to be milked for every last drop.
  

I do hope that Google is paying attention to these developments. The success of paid apps in the Android Market is simply pitiful to date - there is far too much friction in every transaction, and the technology is full of bugs that they are very slow to fix. There are lessons to be learned and I hope they learn them. Fast.