Microsoft offering $100,000 to bring apps to Windows Phone 8

By Joshua Pramis June 14, 2013

winstore-1

With the recently unveiling of Apple’s new iOS 7, gradients and neon colors aside, a lot of comparisons are being made to the look and feel of Windows Phone 8. But regardless of how either of the two look when sitting side-by-side, there’s one department that Windows is sorely lacking in: apps.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft isn’t wasting time with its head buried in the sand. It knows that app land is one of the biggest factors hurting its sales. To put it in perspective, while Microsoft did surpass BlackBerry sales in the first quarter with 7 million units shipped, those numbers are a long way from the 161 million Android phones shipped during the same period.

So how to convince app developers to bring their creations to a less popular platform? Well, you dig deep into your Daddy Warbucks pockets and shell out some incentive to developers. And that’s exactly what the company is doing. To convince companies to bring their apps over to Windows, Microsoft is paying in excess of $100,000 per app.

Newer and better phone options may also help give Microsoft a boost, particularly the Lumia devices being released by Nokia. But without a shadow of a doubt, if more apps aren’t made available, Microsoft will have to get comfortable with its position down toward the bottom of the totem pole.

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Computing

Windows 10’s Mail app may display an Office 365 ad for some users

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

Windows 10 devices owners are now jumping on Reddit to complain about an advertisement showing up in the platform's built-in Mail app. As shown above, it appears as a banner hovering above the Mail, Calendar, and People buttons on the menu stating "Get Office 365." The only way to remove the banner is to close the menu altogether.
We loaded up the Mail app, listed as version 17.9126.21425.0, and didn't see the Office 365 banner. Many other Reddit members jumping into the complaint thread aren't experiencing the advertisement either. But in our case, we do have an Office 365 subscription, yet many Reddit users aren't Office subscribers and still don't see the advertisement in the latest version of Mail.
That said, Microsoft could be testing the feature with random customers. The move wouldn't be surprising given that the company advertises its baked-in Microsoft Edge browser on the taskbar and notifications panel if you're using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or some other browser.
Advertisements on Outlook.com are understandable: It's a free online service, and Microsoft prefers you take advantage of its money-making software suite. But customers are purchasing Windows 10 along with their device, and although all first-party apps are provided free of charge, advertising on paid software degrades the experience and service. We have enough advertisements scattered all over the web.
"Windows isn't free. Either you're paying for it, or the OEM/systems integrator is paying for it," one Reddit user argues. "Why is there a need to serve ads in a product which isn't free? The money has already been made -- ads are just milking it for more."
Google's platform is different. On the internet, it's backed by an advertisement system, investments, paid services, and so on. Android and Chrome OS are free, open-source operating systems fueled by advertisements, device sales, app sales, and data collection. Advertisements on free, open-source platforms are expected, like Gmail, not on a paid copy of Windows 10.
Microsoft's push to sell Windows as a service seems to be intensifying. Just last month, the company revealed that it is testing a new Mail app feature in a preview build of Windows 10 that automatically opens links in Microsoft Edge. Forget whatever you have set in Windows 10 as your default browser: All links in Mail will be pushed to Microsoft Edge. The company says it's merely "testing" this feature.
Microsoft's in-app advertisement is an interesting turn given the company launched a campaign in 2013 targeting advertisements in Google's Gmail service. The search engine giant was accused of using an algorithm to scan Gmail messages and generate custom advertisements based on discovered keywords. Microsoft jumped on the Gmail-bashing bandwagon.
"Outlook.com believes your privacy is not for sale," Microsoft's Stefan Weitz said at the time. "We believe people should have choice and control over their private email messages, whether they are sharing banking information or pictures of their family or discussing their medical history."
That choice and control should also include locking out Microsoft's advertisements, even Microsoft Store app suggestions, on its paid operating systems.

Mobile

iPhones are on the beat in the Big Apple as NYPD begins rollout of new devices

NYPD

The New York City Police Department decided last year to get rid of the 36,000 Windows phones it gave its police force throughout the past two years. The NYPD is now officially rolling out new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models to its workforce, reports the New York Daily News.

The rollout originally started in Manhattan before Christmas and will now continue with Brooklyn and Queens. As with the Windows phones, the NYPD can use the iPhones for 911 dispatches, along with accessing real-time video and background checks. They're also able to complete tasks including filling out accident reports and summonses.

Mobile

Microsoft adds new features to Office and OneDrive apps for iPad, iPhone

iPad keyboard

While the iPad is quickly becoming a computer replacement in many workplaces, it's far from perfect. A lot of third-party apps have been slow to incorporate new features that bolster the iPad's productivity features. Microsoft, however, is going against the grain by adding several new features to its Office and OneDrive apps for the iPad and iPhone that makes using the productivity powerhouse much easier.
Drag and drop
Perhaps the most useful new feature for both Office and OneDrive is the integration of drag and drop functionality. Apple introduced drag and drop to the iPad with the release of iOS 11 in 2017. With drag and drop, it's easy to move images and files to different files on the iPad and iPhone.

With the latest update of Microsoft Office, it's simple to move content to different apps. For example, if you're working on a presentation, you can drag a graph from Excel directly to PowerPoint instead of having to import the data.