Microsoft today has announced the replacement for the App Hub dev portal. It's said to have been months in the making and having the underpinnings of a more robust and scalable backend the site is available to use now.
Among new feature highlights, the new website includes support of PayPal to pay for your developer account as well as be paid from the Marketplace. You are also now able to choose unique prices for each region as well as conduct far bigger beta tests encompassing thousands of testers if needed.
Interestingly the announcement goes on to mention that The Dev Center will support the in-app purchasing previously announced for Windows Phone 8. The included, ‘Whats New’ page makes it clear that it is Windows Phone 8 only that will support this model for purchasing. That quickly squashes at least one question as to whether or not WP7.5 and WP7.8 devices will be receiving these benefits. Not surprising per se, but it is good to see it in black and white, clarity is key.
Country and Region Support also gets a boost, developer registration now possible in over 178 markets and you’ll be able to submit your apps to over 191 countries and regions. The site looks to be getting a nice lick of paint and some much needed love and attention in preparation for the coming Windows Phone 8 launch. A more appealing interface, as well as a more stable backend, must be a huge relief to you hard working devs out there. We have heard of occasional downtimes occurring with the App Hub. For those that like reports of all kinds the Dev Center has some fancy new graphs too.
Would be very interested to hear from devs out there how you feel about the new portal. Excited about those in-app purchases for Windows Phone 8? Graphs and analytics got you hot under the collar? Please, let us know in the comments bellow.
Source : Windows Team Blog
Reader comments
App Hub retired – meet the new Windows Phone Dev Center
My App Hub Registration didn't transfer over I had to register again =(
I told Microsoft that I didn't think the registration was on their system properly and they were like nah it's there I can see it...Lucky for me I have Dream Spark so I didn't loose any money and it littrally took like 2 seconds without re-directing to the Xbox website like it used to lol.
Great just keep pushing the devs away wp7.8.... Jeez man..
I am not sure if this is the place to ask that question but for the developers that have paid applications on the Windows phone marketplace, what would be the average earning on one submitted app? I know that they are lots of variable that come in place such the overall app quality, performance and number of users. I am working really hard on learning how to code and develop apps for the phone, tablets as well as windows itself. If you guys do not del comfortable talking about your financial earning, please let me know so that I can give you my email to discuss about it more directly. Thanks in advance for all your insights.
I don't think it's possible to answer that question because like you said, there are just too many variables. I don't have any paid apps on the marketplace, they are all ad supported using pubcenter. Earnings can range from a few dollars a month for my earlier games, to $600 a month for the beta version of my latest game. If you want to know more I'd post your questions to the Developers section of the WPCentral forums. You'll find lots of help people there.
First impressions: I'm quite liking the new interface. Far more responsive and better organized.
The WP8-only stuff like in-app purchases doesn't really bother me personally. We've lived without in-app purchases on WP7.x this long anyway. We still have trial mode, which for many apps is often enough.
Still has some quirks, like my app is currently stuck in "signing stage" (I don't know how I initiated an update, it just seemed to happen), and I can't cancel that, edit my app's details, or submit a new version in the meantime... that bugs me. But still, I'm pleased to see the positive changes to the Hub overall.
so where do w8 apps fit into all this? wouldn't it make the most sense (and provide for the least friction in developing apps between w8 and wp8) to have a single portal for both (+xbla)..?
note: I'm not a dev, so not sure if that is the case or not; just the impression I got from this is they've separated-out wp development..?
This is a single portal for 7.1/7.8 and 8.0 apps.
yeah I get that, just wondering how windows 8 "metro" apps for into the equation?
Metro apps will be on a seperate site. dev.windows.com i believe. Thats not open for general registration yet though, however it did recognise my apphub membership
ok, cool. still find it odd not to just have it all integrated..
I'm excited & can't wait to sink my teeth into it
Funny how in app purchasing requires win8 hardware. Really?
Still not convinced Microsoft has my back and if I want to stay in this ecosystem. Guess time will tell.
no this is just a straight up screw job. Step 1 of total abandonment. It also sets the stage for a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn't need hardware but WON'T come to 7.8.
This exactly. It only serves to reinforce my opinion that MS is pushing to have devs abandon WP7.x as quickly as possible and write WP8 only apps. It really sucks since my family has THREE Windows Phones and soon they will all be useless and we can't afford to buy them at off-contract pricing.
Melodrama is melodramatic. The phones are not and will not be useless. If you care so much, then slowly upgrade your family in the Fall. Let's not make a mountain out of your purchasing molehill.
"The phones are not and will not be useless."
Well, yeah, neither are Palm Pre phones, but you're not really making a great argument here.
I would say, stop digging that hole.
Please provide us with examples of CURRENT phone features and apps that will stop working when WP8 is officially releases.
Is there just going to be link that pops up that says "Sorry we are disabling this phone, Click here to buy a WP8 handset."???
Really?
With wp7.8 or wp8 will users be able to pay apps via PayPal too?
New info when submitting an app. It now requires a "App tile icon" which is 300 x 300 px
Update: It actually ONLY requires an app tile at 300 x 300, a background image at 1000 x 800 and your screen shots in WVGA. I guess they are scaling to get any other sized images they want from the 300x300 one
Yeah it always seemed pointless having to submit the same icon multiple times. A welcome change I say
+100000
You can now remove registered phones from the dev center. Dont think this was possible before, but i might be wrong.
Yes, this was possible before
I dont see the Paypal option anywhere.
It now seems to let me update a private beta, instead of deleting it and readding it. However I get an error saying "We can't connect to the server at the momet. Try again at a later time."
I think its broke. I can't get any info from it now: "There's no info available at the moment.". Aparently I have 0 apps!
Working again now and have managed to update a private beta, which is great so I dont need to keep creating new apps everytime i want to do a new test!
My god. It is sooo much better. Its fast, stuff pops up when you click the button without waiting a month I can filter by how many people actually PAID for my app. Ive not submitted anything yet to it, so unsure how well that works. One problem though. My payment information, Tax profile etc are all gone!
Bit worrying your payment and Tax profile are now gone. I wonder if anyone else is having the same issue. RB
My payment information is also gone. Kind of annoying.
I wont re-enter it at the moment, see if it reappears. (Not like I get paid often anyway :D)
I tried entering mine again but the pin for the W-8BEN form won't send to my email. Haha, and same about the payment thing. Guess I can't complain
The dreaded W-8 form. Thankfully from my pubcenter experience its quite easy now. I'll play the wait and see game.
That form really is hell. Also like the idea of being paid via PayPal now, seems much easier.
me too, as long as we dont lose any further % for having that ability.
Mine was missing too but is back to normal now
I think i know why the payment stuff has gone. Im in the UK and to get paid before I had to fill in some IBAN number (or something) it was a messy process for people outside of the US. We had to also send in a W-8. It looks like this is all now simplified. Now we can enter our normal Sort code and Account number information, along with our bank address (much like we would do when doing a direct debit or standing order) I wont fill it in for now, but I think this is why this stuff has gone, it would only take me 30 seconds to fill it back in though.
Agreed, so much better!! Still some issues like you say but overall extremely happy.