With the Windows Phone 7 developer tools being finalized September 16th and the marketplace accepting submissions in October I started, a little late in the game perhaps, to wonder how likely Windows Phone 7 users will be to buy apps. The iPhone and Android users buying apps have been discussed at length by cnet, NYTimes, mashable and TiPb from just a little Googling by my part. Lets move forward considering for this post that it is true that the iPhone sells more apps per device than the Android at this point. I was a Windows Mobile phone user for many versions, I started using Windows Mobile back when the Compaq iPaq was just starting out and there were almost no free apps around. Will the history of Windows Mobile apps being paid for induce more purchases on this new platform? I tend to think that like the iPhone App Store that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will be easy enough for users to make quick purchases of low cost apps. Couple this with Microsoft investing heavily in a huge launch list of games really makes me think that these first users will be conditioned from day one that good apps can be purchased from the Marketplace.
I know that the iPhone users buy apps and I know that Windows Mobile users of the past bought apps even though it was a pain to get to them and sync them with their devices. I really think that Windows Phone 7 will sell enough apps per phone to be considered a good bet for developers to invest time, effort and money into learning and marketing for their ideas, even if they are just copies of their existing iPhone apps.
Will single developers be able to see success on Windows Phone 7 the same way that we saw iPhone apps rise up or will it be a situation of good phones and support but poor sales like the Android. I’m sure no one wants to see it turn into another Palm Pre.