Microsoft ditches yearly renewal period for Windows Developer Center accounts

And that fee still doesn't stop some of top devs from making their apps for ios.

what's you point? Trevor and Gregory were speaking about their reasons for not developing for ios, not everyones. Are they not entitled to their opinions??

You forget, this is the internet. Anything goes.

Thats what you think  --Big Brother.

Well.. because it's easier to sell apps when your customers represents around 30% of the population rather than when it's 4%...

For me it's that but mainly the fact that you need to use Mac to develop. That's a big no. Although I guess it's possible to use a Virtual Machine.

Tru

Tbh, if that's what's keeping you out the $100 is doing its job. If you can't bring enough value to users to overcome that cost via revenue then you probably aren't making applications they want in the store.

Excuse me, what's TBN?

"TBH": to be honest

It dropped to 19 a year ago.

Well done Microsoft, more developers will come to wp

Right

No they won't. $19 a year wasn't a large fee to begin with, just an annoyance in renewing. Being free doesn't mean it will bring more devs.

If anything it will attract devs who offer little value to the store customers

Bring on the fart apps!

1587 Fart apps and counting. We could do a contest like Apple and give a gift to the 10000 fart app download.

Flappy bird offered little, but it made the develper rich! Most of the diamonds in the rough come from little known develpers. How many of you know Rudy Huyn before he made all of the great apps he's made  for WP?

I get the feeling you don't understand what value is. He offered value, which is why he made so much money and could afford his $100/yr fee.

Its not a large fee, but it might give a developer a "hmm, one time $19? Its worth signing up and trying to port my app. "

Steps in the right direction by Microsoft! Only wish they'd come sooner and quicker.

That's NOT what she said!

Lol

She?

Lol hahahaha

Wow! This is amazing! I just got done with my studies and I guess I can now keep my free student account. I was worried about having to remove my app coz I really don't make much money of it even though it is highly rated in the store!

Which app?

Which App???

It's called Split It. Its a Splitwise client which allows you to split bills and expenses with friends. http://bit.ly/1mBoSvj

I don't know why but its difficult to find it in the store even if I search the exact name. Downloading and rating

What is your store region? It isn't reviewed in a lot of countries, hence might be tough to find

I'm in the US and found it immediately by typing split in the search box

Yeah! People in US have left reviews. So that helps with store visibility! Would be great if you could leave one as well :)

Nice UI, very "clean"! :)

Thanks! Great if you can rate it as well :)

Installed :) I have a small app as well for South African tax payers which calculates your income taxes, and allows you to file them within the app since SARS isn't releasing a WP app here (even though WP is the second biggest by marketshare). http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/my-income-tax/51810054-3a6c-4940-b4d6-68db218cec88

Check the name. I can't find at the store by searching either.

The name is correct. "Split It". Maybe you can try this link: http://bit.ly/1mBoSvj

Hey, that looks nice and like something I could use. I'll download it now. Thanks!

Thanks! Remember to rate as well :)

Which App????

Split It

Same! This is really great news for students.

Just downloaded and it looks nice.. Will rate as well.

Thanks :)

That's great! thanks MS

Very good move.

Gautam and me very scared about it!! Whew!! A lotta weight off!!

Yay, won't have to renew my dev account to install xaps :v

Hackeeeer xd (i also download some xaps)

Developers! Developers! Developers!

Excellent, way to go MSFT!

A right step for ms.

I'm a developer lol !!

Are you sure? I know they amalgamated Windows Phone Dev subscription with Windows Dev subscription which extended your year.

Looks like it the real thing. I just logged in and checked my subscription status and received the following message. Developer accounts don’t expire. You won't need to renew your account in order to keep your apps in the Store.

Fantastic news! Do you know is there still an upfront cost for budding devs?

Yes, this is great.  This is the kind of things that eventually in some months some people will be wondering why there are so many new apps in the store... (hopefully).

Great, now $19 suffice to become a Windows (Phone) developer.

Smart move!

Thanks Microsoft...

Good news

Gr8.1

If you are a dev, shouldn't you say Gr8.1 update 1 ?

I've JUST updated my phone with the DP program...HEY LOOK AT ME I AM A DEVELOPER!!!!
WP users nowadays...

WHAT?!? WHAT APPS! I NEED TO KNOW/s :)

Irony?

The /s indicates sarcasm.

yeaah

glad ... they did it ... as an indie developer its difficult for us to pay $20... my apps are free and ad free, I dont have any source to make money

The original dev for VBA8 should step up again :D

i was up for renewal soon good news now i can keep my $19

the current developers of watsapp twitter instagram. what he hell are they doing. still they haven't made WP 8.1 compatible application. we need better support majorly from them. also forgot Skype team who should rewrite the whole app.

I guess they're waiting...

Great, heard some devs just got the email for the fee a couple days ago too

Being a developer its a major hassle that Microsoft has solved..... Thanks Microsoft.

Okay, someone please enlighten me. I see the price dropped from $100/yr to $19/yr, which is incentive enough for anyone to hop on the WP Developer bandwagon. And I'm all for Microsoft willing to bite the bullet to convince devs to jump in, but if devs are still crying about the $19/yr renewal fee, why? Is the license free on iOS? I wonder how much it is on Android, despite it being a free open source OS. If there's more, please tell me.

From now on you just need to pay $19 once and you will have your developer account running forever. Google charges $25 a year and its $99 on Apple.

It makes a LOT of sense now. But honestly, I also have the feeling that because of Windows Phone's popularity, or lack thereof, developers are whining about having to pay a fee for WP yet they have no qualms about the renewal fee on iOS and Android, due to their popularity and revenue. I can understand if developing solely on WP, but not the mentality I described if developing for all three. It may stink of desperation by Microsoft to some, but we need all developers we can get for our ecosystem. And no, it's not about the number of apps to me as long as the apps people want or need are on WP. And people need to look at 3rd party apps as well. I bet people on Android and iOS are using 3rd party apps, but will bitch and moan about WP having only 3rd party apps for YouTube just to feel superior. Sorry for the long rant.

So by my understanding (which might be wrong I can't find many details on this change) the issue isn't about paying the yearly amount. The idea here is that you can let your developer account "lapse" by not paying your $19, but any apps you've got in the marketplace will stay there still, you just might not be able to create new ones. That's important because developers of free apps that aren't making any money may have been questioning why they were paying to keep something in the store which doesn't pay for itself

"Developer accounts don’t expire. You won't need to renew your account in order to keep your apps in the Store." This is what they mention in the subscription page of Dev account
 

Yes - we get that... But can you release NEW apps, UPDATE your existing apps... No, that's what the $19 is for. 

I might make my apps public now if the price is still $19

Great news. No more paying to be a developer. (And I have 2 apps in the store)

considering their position on the market, I think it was a smart move.

Yeah, I agree, a smart move in the right direcrion. Thank you Microsoft.

this is fantastic!! Now please bring multiple account linking to the developer accounts, so that me and my colleagues can access the dashboard with needing to share common account.

Thank you so much MS

Got myself a developer license last August in local currency, which was about 8 times cheaper. :D And I wasn't forced to renew it this year. So this change was in place at least for a month, but they were a bit slow to send out notifications.

Now only if I can find the time to learn how to develop an app.

Try the wp8.1 beginner series on Channel9!

Bob's awesome. He got me coding in c# Posted via Windows Phone Central App

Ok cool will do Prannav Gupta. Thanks!

Ok thanks Superunderscor. I will do that.

Dont you just love the competition.

That's good news. This is the reason why there's no good apps and apps existing dose not have frequent update. Eg, wunderlist has given 5 updates till date, no other apps in shord span provided the update. Good for developers! And therefore we are expanding and hence getting new apps join the heart od Microsoft and thus, we will win in the end! Good that we are developing.

Dropping the fee was a good move but allowing unsupported apps to remain in store is not a smart move. They should get rid of apps that haven't been supported for 6 months or more

Should a calculator, timer app, or something that works as it should be pulled if there are no updates after 6 months? I agree certain apps need to be continually supported but that does not go for all.

Good call. Every step to lower barrier to entry (and retention) should help grow the community of developers.

Good to know... Now MS gotta improve their ads network!

This is fantastic news. Now, I'm even more glad that I've developed apps for Windows Phone. I was expecting to have to renew before I publish my next app!

Step in the right direction.

Hopefully Rowi can put their app back in the store for existing customers then...

Love this as once an app is in the store it won't get pulled once the dev account expires... Although, if the app needs a back end server like mine does, we could end up with a lot of useless apps where the server doesn't respond due to the dev not renewing his server.

Cool move from Microsoft. Nice I don't have to worry about renewing my account next year. ^^

I noticed this last night when trying to redeem a code. Thanks!

YESSS!!! I was about to that point where I had to renew mine. Now I don't have to do it? Yay!!!

Is a good move for me as hobbyist dev it's one less disincentive

Tragedy. The amount of bullshit apps is already absurdly high and now this. If you ask me the fee should be $200 per year + $10 per app published.

So can I throw away my creditcard? Because I don't use it for anything else and it would save me monthly money

thank you Microsoft. now I can keep my student dev account forever :P

Great news! :)

Awesome!

I don't recall getting an email but for the past few days when I logged in, it was reminding me that renewal was approaching.  Saw this post...logged into my WinDev account and it isn't warning me anymore!  Sometimes it pays to procrastinate!

Yeah! Good move Microsoft!

Nice...

It's kinda weird that lately some stocks like this are posted firstly in secondary websites and then here on wpcentral! Maybe they get you first? Who knows. But I'm here because I need ask the latest first, no point in seeing them elsewhere first! ;)

They better do something to get caught up on usefull apps

Right decision

.. So can anybody upload their apps without needing to pay to become a developer now?

No, there is one time fee of 19$

This is so perfect!

Anybody got free dev account from dvlup in India? Me too got for free and now free for lifetime... Yeyyy...

As a dev. Yay! As a consumer this sucks. It means Microsoft won't be able to hire people to test on person anymore. That in turn means more crap. Also. I give up on trying to fix my spelling. Your mobile site is horrible.