Running a small business is about helping customers while moving fast.
The Microsoft App Store is a big part of our efficiency in going-to-market.
Here and in a few following articles we share our experience with the store.
There are a few hurdles but there are big advantages which we hope you can enjoy as well.
The app store brings benefits to developers and to their customers (which is also good for developers).
Our customers use the store because:
- Easy and accessible one-stop shopping
- Curation elevates perceived quality and reliability
- Trouble-free installation, update, and deinstallation
- Transparent fees and charge and
- Desktop software often has better security than a website.
When you are small and just starting to sell apps through your website none
of these benefits exist for you; unless you partner with a big firm. By partnering with
Microsoft and placing your apps in the Store you gain instant customer credibility for all the above listed reasons.
Everything that helps the customer makes things easier for the software vender.
In addition, the Microsoft App Store helps vendors in the following ways when selling software:
- Fewer relationships to manage
- Easy installation and update
- Simple telemetry, monitoring, and feedback
- Clearer relationships with customers and partners
- Fewer serious competitors and
- Store ranking largely independent of how much we pay Microsoft.
All of these services are available as you gain experience operating independently,
but they can challenge the novice seeking to offer paying customers a professional experience.
And these issues never go away, sometimes grow, and are an ever-present source of the friction in
crossing the chasm from idea to market.
While the Microsoft App Store adds value to the software ecosystem it supports, it does also impose costs.
Developers targetting this Store do best if apps they intend to publish there use the UWP framework
(though legacy Windows apps can be published through the store through the
Desktop Bridge).
And publishing will require a 'certification' step which does raise the quality of the product but takes time.
Look on these relatively few strictures as you do your
compiler which preserves your users from many potential bugs in your product.
Overall, the Microsoft App Store teaches developers how to deliver and support a professional product.
For now let us get you past a few basic modern software business hurdles:
- Establish a developer relationship with Microsoft
- Create a web presence easily, and
- Publish your first app.
These three points circumscribe the entire process for getting your apps listed in the Microsoft Digital Store.
Click on the above three links to see our recommendation on how to get started on each step.
Completing these steps means you have launched Microsoft App Store-based software business.