One interesting thing about developing for the Windows Store, is that you get used to doing it alone.
Make no mistake; I also see this as one key reason to persist with the store! It’s one of my secret weapons.
As the store is far less crowded than the Apple Store and Google Play, it’s easier to get noticed. All be it, by a much smaller base.
If I were developing for the other stores, I’d be finding it a lot harder to get noticed.
So what has this got to do with being lonely? Not just that I’m normally the only person in the startup space I sometimes go to not using an Apple laptop. It also means that I have become slightly spoiled with being the only app or an app with a clear key differentiator.
Take Voyer for instance. When I started developing that I thought there were no UWP 4chan apps in the store. Turns out there was at least 2. I did know about the Windows Phone 8.1 app but that’s a different kettle of fish.
So the whole development process was obvious why I was making it; to add that to the eco system (particularly as Mobile ARM devices could not render WEBM so couldn’t even browse 4chan in Edge).
Having multiple other apps to chose from (including one added since Voyer) has certainly helped push me to continue developing and improving. I don’t want to be the only choice; I want to be the BEST choice. I want to improve me, and what I can make, every week.
Then you have something like Pinnie for Pinterest. Once I saw another app come out I felt somewhat deflated in my purpose for it, and in fact am still not sure weather to finish it or not. There are so many other apps vying for attention.
But the reality is that the store, and the experience for people using Windows Devices, are both improved by having a choice. Can I release an app knowing that it might not be the best in the store? No one wants to aim for mediocrity but it’s also a little silly to give up without a fight.
Reality is; different people will prefer different apps and designs. Also the store is better for competition, if I dare call it that. Lets keep putting them out there.