With the quality of lame ideas, bandwagon jumping, and
late-to-the-party mentality going on over in Redmond, maybe it's not
too late for them to rename the corporation Micro-sauce.
The
latest indignity? In anticipation of the opening of the Windows Mobile
6.5 Marketplace application store, the software giant has taken to
advertising its shop within various iPhone apps.
We're not kidding. This in-app screenshot from
1800pocketpc.com shows the ad, hoping to lure application developers
over to the MS side of the fence or at least to extend their developer
skills to WiMo.
Microsoft promises a big contest for app developers, complete with big prizes. Plus, big rules.
All you have to do is click through one screen after another, pony up
an annual $99 plus a $99/per app fee, ditch Java, among other things.
The
build up is touted as the "Race to Market Challenge," a rather dated
idea when Apple's app store only crossed the billion apps downloaded
marker five months ago. Apparently Microsoft has decided to try and
crush the puny offerings from Palm's app business and the anemic Google
Android app market, as those are the only major competitors left in
their marketshare.
We wish them the best of luck. They'll need it.
