Photograph: Christie's
"Saint John the Evangelist" by Domenico Zampieri
At Microsoft, even some of the evangelists are converting.
Steve Cellini spent seven years trying to convince software developers to write for Microsoft products, including the Windows operating system. A week ago his startup released a downloadable app, called CrowdGame Trivially, that lets users play pub quizzes on mobile devices made only by Microsoft’s nemesis Apple.
Mike Swanson was another Microsoft evangelist, helping orchestrate the big conferences designed to get developers amped up about writing for Windows. He worked on the September show where Microsoft unveiled Windows 8, part of its push to catch Apple in the tablet market. Within weeks, he jumped ship to focus full-time on a side project begun in 2009: a software company called Juicy Bits that builds photography apps for — wait for it — Apple.
“When we looked around, the iPad was the obvious place to start,” said Cellini, who left Microsoft in 2009 and founded Hyperbotic Labs, his startup, last year. “It was really the only thing of its ilk out there.”
The dissonance involved in switching loyalties to Apple’s iOS software wasn’t lost on Swanson. “It is weird going from being a cheerleader for Microsoft to focusing on iOS,” he said. “It was a struggle for me to be honest. One of the things about being a good evangelist is being passionate and this happens to be what I’m passionate about now.”
Developers by droves are passionate about Apple. The company’s App Store has amassed more than 550,000 downloadable apps, compared with more than 400,000 for Google’s Android Market. Microsoft’s comparable online bazaar has exceeded 60,000 apps. Microsoft is playing catchup after a complete overhaul of its phone software left the company starting from zero share 18 months ago. While the latest Windows Phone product is gaining some devotees, it’s still the No. 6 mobile operating system in terms of users, with less than 2 percent share, according to Gartner. Microsoft won’t have a compelling tablet offering until Windows 8 is released some time later this year. Microsoft representatives declined to comment.
To win over more programmers, Microsoft is offering an 80 percent slice of sales to Windows 8 developers whose apps bring in more than $25,000. That’s a bigger cut than Apple offers. Swanson says Windows Phone is a good product and that he’s interested in developing for it as soon as it has enough users to “actually pay the bills.”
If Microsoft wants to gain meaningful share in mobile, it will need to do a better job winning over the programmers so enamored with Apple and Android – and keep more of its in-house evangelists from becoming infidels.
