Microsoft has always been a strong supporter of its application developer community, but at times it appears to fall short. Due to the lack of in-app advertising revenue, many Windows 8 app developers who rely on ad revenue have earned little money this month.
Since March 31st, advertisements within Windows 8 applications have almost disappeared. It's not because Win8 app developers removed their ad modules; rather, they simply don't have access to ads. In-app ads for Win8 apps are typically delivered through the pubCenter ad platform, with Microsoft being the largest advertiser. So developers could at least still rely on displaying ads from Bing for revenue. However, starting from March 31st, even Bing's ad placements stopped. This means that apps have no ads to show users, and thus developers receive no ad revenue. This is a significant blow to many free app developers who rely on ad revenue.
Many developers have voiced their concerns about Microsoft's actions on Bing's support platform, but they have yet to receive an official response from Microsoft.
"My app used to have high daily ad impressions, but now it's almost zero. I only make free apps, so isn't this killing me? How am I supposed to cover the costs of Windows Azure (Microsoft's app developer platform)? Not to mention all the effort I've put into these apps!" said user silverdollar.
"I released a new game four days ago, and despite having a high download count, it has only brought me 0.01 euros in revenue so far. If a new developer encounters such a situation, I'm sure he would switch to other systems and stop developing apps for Windows," said user mezzie.
This situation undoubtedly adds to the woes of the Windows app store, and it seems to be entirely Microsoft's own doing. Regardless of what Microsoft intended, the demands of developers are actually quite simple: fair compensation for their efforts. I believe no one wants to work for free for Microsoft. Hopefully, Microsoft can at least give these selfless contributors some explanation. Retaining users is important, but doing so at the expense of alienating developers is not wise.
Image source: bqjournal