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Microsoft Working On Its Own App Store

CWmike writes "Microsoft is working on a software distribution scheme along the lines of Apple's iPhone App Store, CEO Steve Ballmer said yesterday at a developer's conference in Sydney, Australia. 'There's not much money being made, but the general concept of giving developers a way not only to get their code distributed, but to really get visibility for the code, is a good idea,' Ballmer said. Ballmer hinted that something similar would be coming soon from Microsoft. While he said Micrsoft was not ready to detail the works in progress, he said '... fear not, we're hard at work, and you'll see some of the benefits [of that] with some of the concepts, particularly Facebook's.'"

6 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No supprise here by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, but Apple legally licensed/bought the tech from PARC. Microsoft simply copied them after they saw how successful it was.

    Whether or not Apple did invent these things it has been a fairly consistent paradigm that Apple (or Google, or whoever) comes up with something and makes it successful and then Microsoft tries to get in on the action. I'm sure their app store will do fine. At least as fine as the Zune....

    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
  2. Re:No supprise here by jcr · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm pretty sure the mouse came from Xerox PARC.

    No, Doug Englebart invented it at SRI.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  3. Really? by NuclearError · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... fear not, we're hard at work...

    Start fearing.

    --
    Nuclear engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.
  4. Re:monkey see monkey do by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Informative

    You do realize people have been buying music and software from Microsoft Online services for over 7 years right?

    Really? MSN Music launched in 2004, a year after the iTunes Music Store (2003), and it is the first online music store from Microsoft that I can find any references to. I'm aware that Microsoft has had an online software store for a few years, although I've yet to encounter anyone who's bought anything from it (and any non-geeks who are even aware of its existence).

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  5. App store not making money? pfft by santiagodraco · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They are making PLENTY of money off the app store, far more than they expected. Ballmer's comments about "there's not much money being made" is simply his way of discounting Apples success and predicting his own failure.

  6. Re:No supprise here by Facegarden · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm pretty sure the mouse came from Xerox PARC.

    No, Doug Englebart invented it at SRI.

    -jcr

    I met him once a couple years ago. Really old (he's passed now) but he had a pretty interesting story. The part that really gets me is he never made a penny from inventing the mouse, aside from his salary at the company. He should have been made rich though!
    -Taylor

    --
    Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?