Eclipse Tools for Microsoft Silverlight

Silverlight tools are coming to Mac and Linux - and towards iPhone!

Eclipse Tools for Microsoft Silverlight

Brief: App Store success several times what Apple likely expected

Brief: App Store success several times what Apple likely expected: "

The runaway success of the iPhone App Store, which Apple didn't even launch until a year after the first iPhone became available, caught even Apple by surprise. The 2-billion-apps-sold milestone, reached in late September after just a year and a half of sales, surpassed even the most optimistic expectations inside of Apple.

'We had no idea there would be 2 billion downloads by October,' Kleiner Perkins partner Matt Murphy, manager of the then $100 million fund, told Financial Times. 'Most people within Apple, if you had told them it would be a fifth of that by now, they would have been pretty happy.'

Apple's initial reluctance to allow third-party native app development may have been influenced by those low expectations. When the iPhone was first launched in June 2007, Steve Jobs tried to sell developers on just making Web apps. When Web-based apps couldn't match the performance or capabilities of native apps, developers asked for more. Apple announced that they were changing course in October, but didn't launch the App Store until July 2008—just as Apple released the second generation iPhone hardware.

The success of the App Store is attributable to a sort of positive feedback loop among developers and users, FT explained. Developers created the 100,000+ apps that are currently available, giving users a smartphone platform that is capable of almost limitless functions. The growing user base that was attracted to the selection of apps then provides developers a large potential market to address with new applications.

"From Apple’s perspective, the gold mine was that they found a source of differentiation, independent of the hardware and basics software design, that they could never have anticipated," Professor David Yoffie, of Harvard Business School, told FT.

Besides benefitting Apple, some developers have also had quite a bit of success developing iPhone apps. Tap Tap Revenge maker Tapulous was recently profiled by Reuters, noting that the company generates about $1 million in revenue per month. While most developers won't be able to sustain such numbers, it shows that a bit of dedication, clever design, and more than a smidgen of luck, developers have a shot at making serious money.

What is a 'Brief' post?'

"

IDC: Apple App Store to Top 300,000 Apps in 2010

Olga Kharif in Business week find the estimate conservative, but conclude with this:

"There are a couple of reasons why this deceleration in developer interest in the App Store might happen. One, rival app stores, such as Google’s Android Market, will continue to gain traction. The Android Market should grow from more than 12,000 apps recently to as many as 75,000 apps by the end of 2010, according to IDC. Two, many developers are growing increasingly frustrated with Apple’s application approval process. They also complain that, as the App Store’s catalogue grows, users will find it increasingly difficult to find their apps, and it will become increasingly challenging to make money in the App Store."

- IDC: Apple App Store to Top 300,000 Apps in 2010 - BusinessWeek (vis på Googles sidewiki)

...in 2010: 'information wants a small fee.'"

It's Google Friend Connect vs. Facebook Connect

Just hours after Yahoo announced a planned implementation of Facebook Connect on its network of sites, Google announced that you can now use your Twitter credentials to register on Google Friend Connect sites

It's what PCWorlds Ian Paul expects. Later he continues:

2009 may have been the height of Google's power as the champion of the open and free Web, but the mantra 'information wants to be free' may start to change in 2010 to 'information wants a small fee.'

 And what's in it for my self and my newborn company www.noexcuseaccounting.com ? You have to read the whole PCWorld story. But I think it has a a lot to do with us:

• We have to implement Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect
• And really search where we can earn our dimes

Understanding the WCF in ‘WCF RIA Services’

RIA Services on WCF: Best of both worlds
Ever since we announced RIA Services at MIX '09, we have heard strong customers feedback that they would like a consolidated services story from Microsoft. Acting on that feedback, over the last few months RIA Services has spent a significant amount of effort aligning closely with WCF. The Data Services team at their end has been working on a similar alignment with WCF as well.
By centering all our service offerings around WCF we are maximizing developer knowledge transfer and skill reuse, both in the short and the long term.
For more details on the alignment and the motivation behind it please also check out this post by the WCF team.

From: Saurabh Pant's Weblog : Understanding the WCF in ‘WCF RIA Services’