Nokia: "By the end of the year, there'll be very few, if any key applications that aren't in the development pipeline or published

Engadget took time out to sit down with Bryan Biniak, VP and General Manager of Global Partner and App Development at Nokia, to ask about app development on Windows Phone. Since today was also the UK launch of JobLens, as well as a new partnership with Entrepreneur First to help fuel mobile innovation in young minds seeking to start new businesses.

Biniak explained how the Windows Phone ecosystem is growing quickly and most-wanted apps are more the question of "when?" and not "if only."

"We're not having a single conversation with anybody, of any material application that's out there, that isn't going to be coming to the platform. It's not a matter of if -- I had those conversations, the "if" conversations, before -- all of our conversations now are "when." It's maturing, and it's time to come in. By the end of the year, there'll be very few, if any key applications that aren't in the development pipeline... or published."

While there are gaps in the catalogue of apps for Windows Phone, developers who support the platform have shown consumers that just because an app isn't official, doesn't mean it's not worth the time checking out. A perfect example of this would be 6Sec by Rudy Huyn, an unofficial Vine app. That said, it's always good to have the backing of larger brands.

Biniak also touched on Google, who has displayed a lack of will to support Microsoft's mobile platform, ignoring its own consumers who utilise Google products and own a Windows Phone. "They are doing themselves a disservice by not being on every screen," explains Biniak. "That will get resolved over time, but as consumer demand builds, they're not going to have an option."

Microsoft and Nokia have managed to secure partnerships and deals for Windows Phone that have introduced unique experiences for consumers. The Windows Phone Store will continue to grow with official and popular apps arriving, which are already available on other platforms. Many companies and developers are already looking at Windows Phone as yet another screen to get their work published on. As Biniak rightfully stated, it's simply a matter of when?

Source: Engadget; thanks, cyber_k9, for the tip!

Rich Edmonds is Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him over on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

250 Comments

Now. Follow through.
They will , no company offers the support that Nokia offers, I will ride with Nokia till the end .
Agree, totally. Love Nokia and my 920. I just get frustrated with MS stumbling along and making mistakes along the way. I hope Nokia keeps up their push to be the best and take it to the house.
MSFT made the OS and forgot whereas Nokia alone is taking care of all the consumer needs and Nokia pushes out more apps, updates, features, etc than MSFT or any other WP manufacturer.
MS didn't forget anything, what most of you here are forgetting is that Nokia is doing exactly what MS is funding and paying them to do; make good devices, bring features and apps aboard. This is why the surface phone by MS may never happen, because its a plan b thing if Nokia would fail and thus far they're doing an excellent job. Don't forget that MS is give Nokia millions of dollars to do what their doing and this is why Joe B is at the Nokia campus on a regular basis
Yes. I chuckle when I hear people say "It's all Nokia". No, Mictosoft has been very successful by standing in the shadows over the years and funneling money to its partners and subsidizing development so that those partners can post losses on one side while remaining profitable of the other. Long-term strategy always wins out in the end. ;-)
Actually at this point, Nokia is paying MSFT more in licensing than they receive.
Also 250mio/quarter is peanuts really where Nokia single handedly has put WP on the map. Nokia is worth MUCH more to MSFT then what the are paid for and this will come to hunt MSFT when the current agreement is up. Nokia will demand, and get, much more and not only financially. At this time no Nokia == no WP
Spot on.
Agreed!
1. Yes MSFT is funding Nokia but as per the Deal and MSFT is not at all ordering/paying Nokia to Interfere in Nokia's Business. Else all those goodie Apps & games wouldn't have been Nokia's "Lumia Exclusive", then all other OEMs like: HTC, Samsung,etc would've enjoyed those goodies. 2. MSFT Surface Phone pls atleast let them push proper updates for WP8 OS then ask them for a Surface Phone. 3. They on purpose dont want Nokia to survive thus not pushing proper & timely updates. So as soon as either one of Nokia or HTC fails they can Buy the either one of the OEM and make their own phones. That's the reason Nokia's VP Bursted Out on MSFT, HTC is concentrating more on Android Devices and Samsung hardly tries, Huawei is on Android and doesn't care much. 4. Joe B is comes to Nokia Campus or is called over there we dont know that much but truth is Point 4 above. 5. And those Great design of Nokia doesnt come from MSFT like you said. MSFT is trying to hunt down Nokia or HTC for now.
I don't believe it's MS stumbling. They and Nokia are executing very well, it's just that Apple and Google are totally kicking ass and haven't made a single misstep yet.
That said, if MS can get Instagram and Square on the platform, it'll probably take off faster.
I'm with you on that Nokia till I'm dead lol
Entirely agree with you. Nokia just ROCKS and will revive entirely even with Windows phone that people thought it is not going to work. People are fed up of the Android with too much options and anarchy.
simply not true. how are options a bad thing? windows phone, might be ok but you can't even change a wallpaper. and what anarchy are you talking about? I suggest you use a nexus or an HTC one and then be honest. and you can also just ignore the options you don't need. Microsoft needs to do something about stuff like that wallpaper thing imo. Never settle for less. Microsoft is a company like this, the minute you stop pressuring them or asking for more they become lazy and stagnant. if you don't agree with me on this one you are just being a blind fanboy. remember the windows mobile days
OHMIGOD! Can't change the wallpaper! The horror of it all! Maybe, that's because WP has moved past icons and all that vacant screen real estate that we might as well fill with something we want to see. No need with tiles.
I think "Anarchy" perfectly describes Android. Like open source Linux, I've tried both and find the lack of cohesion problematic. Everyone is off doing their own thing, and often things don't work. OTOH, look at Apple - who I love to hate, in general. You gotta hand it to them. They control the show, hardware, software, apps. And everyone loves how everything works all of the time. WP is close to that. In fact, perhaps better because the two principles, MS and Nokia probably do well bouncing concepts off of each other.
I've used sevferal Nokia dumb phones, their S80 and S60 non-touchscreen smart phones, their s^3 Symbian touchscreen platform, some Androids, and my WP. It is by far the most well thought out platform.
He has a point. A lot of people find the home screen downright ugly, and lets be honest a little more costumization wouldn't hurt anyone.
Gee, sure wish I had a clutch pedal to go with my new automatic transmission!
AFAICS, wallpaper and tiles are incompatible. Heck, I sometimes miss the wallpaper of my well-boobied gf, but then that's not the real thing, either.
Of, course, one could always go back to icons and Androids.
Troll
+100
I agree, I have been with windows phone and love my windows phone, but I have to say I really want more options. I would love to have transparent tiles, different background colors, just more options period. Face it, people dont like to feel restricted and I know personally I feel that way with my phone alot of the time.
use skinery pro in windows store
People are fed up of the Android with too much options and anarchy??

Typical jerk. go to school
+920 +1020
+1
Totally agree with you that's why I love Nokia.loving my Lumia925
We don't need apps. We need OS updates with features the competitors' already have.
And also apps.
I need the following apps:

Dropbox, Pocket, Feedly, Gmail, Google Drive, and a few others.

While updates are great, don't underestimate the importance of apps.
In not sure about the others be we have dropbox, its on my phone now.
Gmail support is built in, you aren't fucking getting Google drive so get over it. You need to get off those privacy invading google services.
+925 Google and keep thier privacy invading services off of my Winows Phone
Who pissed in your coffee? "Gmail support is built in, " It's also built in on iOS. Doesn't stop the Gmail app from being superior in everyway. "you aren't fucking getting Google drive so get over it. " Why? Do you not think Windows Phone will grow enough for google to realize they have to support it? " You need to get off those privacy invading google services." I hate to break it to you, but Microsoft isn't a saint when it comes to privacy. Infact, google goes further to protect user privacy by defending them in court and such. No company that makes software now a days respects privacy that much, either (the cloud and meta data makes that pretty much impossible).
But they don't go rumaging, no specifically searching though every aspect of the services they provide like Google does to latch onto anything they can use to make money. The fact that people are ok with that astonishes me.
What I find ironic is this: If you saw your banker pull up and reach into your physicial mailbox outside of your house, opening your mail, taking notes, putting your mail back and then sending you more mailings based upon what they saw, you would be insensed instantly call the cops.
Yet you are a-ok with them doing that with every service they provide online. How people justify this is beyond me.
I completely agree. If I could switch away from services that spy on me, I would. Sadly, my College chose to use Gmail for my .edu email address.
my college uses Office 365 :D
Lol, lucky. I get a big discount for office, at least.

Did you get it for free?
+100 i agree with you. I have to use GMail for school due to the fact that they use Google Chrome. Not a big fan of the ads in my email.
All internet companies collect data. True. Google is a special case however. 95 percent of Google revenue comes from advertising. They are a one trick pony. The only way to keep revenue growing is to get better information for better targeting of ads and in more places. Google will always be the most aggressive collector of data of any of these firms. They have to be. If you are OK with that, fine. And so what if they took someone to court, Microsoft brings down botnets. IE has tracking off by default, Chrome doesn't and Google sides with those who are fighting Microsoft on the tracking issue. I am not bashing you. Choice is a good thing, but eyes open is the best approach.
"All internet companies collect data. True. Google is a special case however. 95 percent of Google revenue comes from advertising. They are a one trick pony. "

Can't argue with that.

"The only way to keep revenue growing is to get better information for better targeting of ads and in more places. Google will always be the most aggressive collector of data of any of these firms. They have to be. If you are OK with that, fine. And so what if they took someone to court, Microsoft brings down botnets. IE has tracking off by default, Chrome doesn't and Google sides with those who are fighting Microsoft on the tracking issue. I am not bashing you. Choice is a good thing, but eyes open is the best approach." While IE and FF are going in the right direction, privacy wise, "tracking off" isn't really that effective when advertisers can (and do) flat out ignore that request.

I use a VNP for privacy, most of the time.
His point remains valid.
It's not made by Dropbox. Dropbox doesn't have an official app outfit the platform
That doesn't mean it can't be used, I use it all the time and have no issues.
It's more that; It shows a lack of commitment from big first party developers.
Yeah but we need updates so we can actually have the space to get new apps.
As our fellow WP member says, we have dropbox. As for you google items you're listing, you'll have to take it up with Google direct as MS has reached out to them attempting to get those apps, but google is just flat out being A**holes and denying us! This is why I refuse to support them anymore period until they change their attitudes. If MS was denying services, etc, the DOJ would be on their A**es like stink on Sh*t.......Straight Up!!!!!
The apps aren't made by dropbox, is what i'm saying. There's no firstparty dropbox app for it on the platform, and I normally don't like trusting thirdparty apps with access to my files.

True. The whole youtube thing is horrible, and google has more than enough rescorces to support Windows Phone (IMO), but choses not to.

Don't act like Microsoft is the only one who get's there shit handed to them by the EU/DOJ, though. Currently Google is in a very big Anti-trust case with the EU and might have to stop being so anti-competitive soon.
That's not how third party apps work. Unless they are built with the intent to have access to your files, which I believe MS screens for during the app submission process, but I could be wrong, they have no access to your files. The third party app for dropbox hooks you into the service directly through the dropbox API. Its one thing to say you want an official app (even though I disagree if you have excellent third party offerings), but to say that third party apps are not to be trusted is way overboard.
Nextgen supports Feedly.
Sounds like you need an Android phone if you are that tied to google and google drive. They make Andriod phones for a reason...
Fuck yeah we need apps.
We need both❕.. Some of you don't expect much.
dont worry
in year or two,all big apps will be own by big google,ms or fb
;)
The WP8 version of Stockholm Syndrome.
we need both
no my friend. More apps with same price with others OS (ios and android) and Windows phone OS updates. I think only Nokia save Windows phone platform.
Agreed. Also read another interview where he (Nokia's guy) says they are pretty annoyed with Microsoft as well. That they don't put enough urgency into the OS updates and pushing to get the apps, like they (Nokia) are doing. Sounds like they are getting just as annoyed as us consumers with Microsoft's lack of support for the platform.
Uhhh... where is THAT interview? I think we'd all like to read it.
It's all over the place. Search for Nokia on Google News, Bing News, Yahoo News, etc. and you will see it. The Nokia executive is making really good points about it too.
Link?
http://wmpoweruser.com/nokia-getting-impatient-with-microsoft-wants-them-to-work-harder-to-bring-apps-to-the-platform/comment-page-1/
Yet Microsoft is giving them billions to do what they are doing....
People seem to be reading news from everywhere but the source. While I enjoy reading wmpoweruser, they aren't exactly the best site for news as they tend to post rumors as fact and go off of miniscule, sometimes meaningless, details as absolute evidence. Check out the source whenever you read articles and decide for yourself. The Nokia VP and GM of app dev is strictly talking about apps, not updates. In fact, I believe some time back Paul Thurott or Mary Jo Foley pointed out that Nokia had asked MS to slow their update schedule on WP. Also, he says that they need apps that MS needs to push for, and on the other hand he says that there isn't much of a gap in apps and there isn't a single key app that won't be out or in development at the end of the year. Not to mention, it is absolutely undeniable that MS is pouring money and resources into Nokia and Devs to secure big name apps, but sometimes that's out of their hands (see google). Also, MS and Nokia are very different types of companies and their strategies are different. They are also working on development for Xbox 1 and win 8, but they are working on apps being easy to port between OSs; WP will get more help from W8 with this than vice versa, IMO. Check out the source here:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/494885/20130726/nokia-microsoft-needs-...
Better late than never.
Better Nate than lever
? Lol
Worlds longest joke
How many characters do we get in the comments?
Letter nate than bever
BBM Please? :D
That would be the final nail hammered into Blackberry's coffin lol, so I don't see that happening just yet.
But its already on android and iOS
? No it's not. It's planned to come out later this year.
What's so special about BBM?
Nothing, they can just as easily use WhatsApp or Viber, and have more features.
Well... I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but here (in Dubai, UAE) BlackBerry devices are popular because of its messenger. And by popular I mean that even young school kids have/had a BlackBerry... I hate BB devices but the messenger is superb, and it has a great community here as well... :-)
yeah that kinda shows you where you all are at technology wise.
Whatsapp? Viber? or thousands of any other messaging services. I mean why BB?
actually this kind of messaging services require community.
what i mean is like if you are in a country where the community are using BBM, there will be very important for you to have it too, and on others hand if you were in a country where whatsapp is trending not BBM, you would not find the importance of having BBM.
sorry for my bad english
it's the same thing in Jamaica. they are behind the times
Its popular, and a lot of people use it.. Bottom line, any app that you can say that about we need on WP.
Do or do not, there is no try.
It's true...
Tell that to Microsoft, Nokia passed the "try" point when they had to push MS to add LTE to the Lumia 900. They are all about doing but the snails at Microsoft are holding them back.
Micrososft just recently had a major reorganization if I recall correctly, so this will hopefully be not much of an issue going forward.
If you reorganize snails, their doesn't increase.
I think it's going to be some time before we see the fruits of that reorg.
Results are already being seen on the Xbox side of things.
True. Xbox updates have been rolling out constantly.
While it can be motivational, this line is really a bit simplistic. Sure, I can "do" everything. Will I "do" it well, or will it suck? Does that matter? Anyway, that's what I would have said if I was Luke.
Here's the mandatory Instagram comment: "We want Instagram! When is that comming??!!" And while we're at it: "What about 7.8 users? We feel abandoned!"

There. I just spared a lot of people the work. You're welcome!
Wells Fargo app! There, I spared a few people.
But they are already making it
Lolzz! Wmpu reported this more than 6 months ago and still no WF app.
I'm a YNAB user and while in the midst of an online training session I posed the question "when will I see a win 8 app?" (they already have iOS and andrhoid). Everyone associated with this product are Apple eaters so the answer to be expected was "not enough users to support the investment". Guess I'll be forwarding this article to them.
You forgot the "blah, blah, 512 Mb, blah".
Damn. Forgot that one! Anyway, thanks for getting that one covered ;D
Yeah, MS totally screwed us WP 7.8 users. I love my lumia 900 but as an early adopter MS got us good. I will be waiting until the next best Nokia phone that will launch in the 4th quarter. As an ex-iPhone user, just wondering if I made the right move.
I know the feeling. I also have a Lumia 800 (well had, I gave it to my mother). However I came a from Nokia (actually I came to WP because of Nokia and nothing else). If I had come from the iPhone however, after the 7.8 fiasco, I would have returned to the iPhone without hesitating.
(Actually I considered getting the iPhone 5 instead of the L920 because of that...I just decided to give MS one last chance, because...well, I hate Apple and the prospect of having to move to a completely different platform was not appealing. Also I've been a Nokia user for 15 years...I don't wish to leave the company.)
LOL. I came from an Iphone 3Gs to a used Lumia 900 and after 6 weeks I abandoned WP7.5 for very crappy support and lack of all minimal needed apps. This was september 2012.
Got myself a used Iphone 4s and luckily it defected on me last may and in giving it a new chance I gor myself a used HTC 8X.
Only since the newest Whatsapp and Teamviewer ability I can say WP8 "will do" but honestly no more then that.
I will stick with this phone until Q4 and hope to renew my contract with an 5" GDR3 phone full HD and quad core, then all that is needed is better MSFT support and some essential apps after which I will make all my customers buy WP8 (WP 8.1)
- Dropbox, Instagram, Enterprise Support and just very few others...
Like my WP8/HTC 8X not loving it (just yet)
Real early adopters' contracts have expired so we've already got the new batch of wp8 phones. C'mon, bite the bullet & upgrade.
you seem to live in you small world, not everyone gets their phones on contract and not everyone lives in US, ppl like me hv spent quite an amount of money to buy devices such as lumia 800 only to be rendered useless in couple of months,
HTC Titan I owners never even got 7.8. On AT&T we are still stuck with 7.5. It is just about time for me to upgrade and I won't even consider anything but Nokia for a Windows Phone.
You might want to consider changing provider too then, as my old unlocked/unbranded UK Titan got 7.8 no problem
Lets see it! There isn't much I am missing, other than a PNC app. That's all that's left for me. I just get tired of "critics" talking about the app market for WP. That's all they have left to complain about, take that away...then what? - Perspective: I am only speaking from a US standpoint. I don't mean to negate other markets...
They will harp on the lack of 1080p resolution and quad core processing not allowed by GDR2 and then they'll always moan about how WP is one generation behind the stupid and needless spec race...until we realize that not only is the OS optimized but not many people truly utilize multiple cores! What would be the best thing to improve is battery life, feature sets etc not gimmicky hardware specs
Why, don't you know? "Everyone" is flocking to the latest tech.
Right, that's what the 520 and its variants are the beat selling WP phone. I am taking your response as sarcasm and responding in kind. Let me know if I am wrong.
They are the latest tech in their price-range though.
I don't disagree, and battery life would be the best thing to improve, and I would put that at #1 on my list. I was just saying, and it was poorly stated on my part I admit, they couldn't use that as their last sentence in EVERY review.
To be fair, alot of games run like shit. Better specs would fix this. NOVA is nearly unplayable, and Spartan Assault is full of frame drops.
Yeah, and it seems difficult to understand for some that it's not about the cores, it's also about the GPU in the newer SoCs.
People like that will always find something. To be fair, it happens in every tech forum. Me? I'm pretty pleased with my 520. Only app I want is (predictably) instagram (an official one). But then, there are unofficial apps which I can and do use and I also have an ipad I can email my photos to which I took on my WP when out, then upload it which is what I normally do. Anyways, point is, there will always be SOMETHING to complain about. But such things get more and more petty as you've pointed out.
I'm glad I'm not the only waiting for PNC apps
Here here sir. I second that.
I'll third that...a Virtual Wallet app is the app I'm hoping to see the most!
He also said, "We are trying to evolve the cultural thinking [at Microsoft] to say 'time is of the essence.' Waiting until the end of the fiscal year when you need to close your targets, doesn't do us any good when i have phones to sell today."-BGR
Speaks volumes to me!
Well pointed. Even Nokia is slowly losing its patience with Microsoft. The longer Ballmer stays, the deeper Microsoft will get into trouble.
I think balmer is doing everything he can. He doesn't single handedly run microsoft
Ballmer is in a bit of a bother right now. Already investors are crowing at him because PC sales are slowing down and they are losing money (big time) on their entertainment division (Surface, RT, Bing, WP - all cost more than they give back right now). The company is doing extremely well financially but he'll have to decide - should he put more resources into these projects and risk the ire of investors or does he just leave them like they are for now and restructure. He chose the latter but I completely agree with Nokia. If Microsoft wants any kind of long term success, they'll have to start betting hard on their products. Half-assed attempts aren't going to get them anywhere and its not like they don't have plenty of examples of that happening anyways.
This is music to my ears! Please Nokia, push MS hard and publicly to get their asses in gear. Also to improve customer communication... rescind "shit up and ship" and start pumping out the features people are begging for for three years! I love WP but am almost convinced MS will not ever find their footing with it... I really don't think it would be that hard if they just poured some devs into it for six months and knock out a ton of missing features to bring it up to parity.
After the last article with 500+ comments, they probably thought that it's best not to mention it. Not cool though.
Well I havent heard anything regarding a FIFA Ultimate Team app.
Apps are being conquered. Now for games!
when those apps come on board, then the question transitions to if wp8 will have an app developed and released the same time as IOS/Android.

The 3rd party apps like instance/6sec/metrotube are more than capable of working as a 1st party app. It is just a stigma of 1st party vs 3rd party name.
You say that like apps get released on iPhone and android at the same time all the time at the moment. I'm sure that time gap will shorten as we get caught up with the apps already seen on those platforms...but I see a gap as inevitable given the other platforms.
They're not 'more than capable'. They're just a stop gap arrangement till the official app comes. Just a very simple example is the inability to upload videos using Instance. The feature was announced over a month ago and it's still not included in Instance. And it's a PAID app as opposed to the FREE Instagram app on iOS or Android. So no, these apps will never drive the platform forward.
Yes, very few 3rd party apps are "as good" as the official... and having to pay for the app or features when they would be free on the official is the biggest difference.
I disagree. Some of them are BETTER than the "official" apps. Metrotube is better than "official" YouTube on Android and iOS. 4th & Mayor is just as good and was WAY better for a long time than the "official" Foursquare. I know people who switched who were happy with the 3rd party alternatives, so your perspective is not universal. The obsession withe word "official" astounds me. What if the 1st party company just bought the 3rd party developer's app and called it "official"? Would people all of a sudden be in ecstacy??
To answer your last question...a big resounding yes.
Free is always better too me.
isnt there a free version of instance thats ad supported?
Sky Go, Official BBC, Instagram, Barclays Bank, proper BBC iplayer, the list goes on and on .....
Spot on ^ all of those please and an official Santander app and i will be as happy as a pig in a truffle scented bubble bath. One thing about WP is they are behind in the numbers but the apps we do have are quality, compared to the 100,000's "zombie" apps on ios and android.
What apps other Instagram are missing? I think some banking apps, Scotia iTrade would be great, YouTube, F1 timing app and not much else.
The F1 timing app has been released.
Since when? Edit: I see it but $27 is a big ouch. Damn that greedy Ecclestone.
Since our good friends at WPCentral advised us on the 25th. Its not cheap though at £19.99/$24! Stupid app name - Timing '13 CP
Instagram, wp8 Flickr, Snapchat, Snapseed, Google hangouts and maps, feedly,
* We have flickr, so that doesn't count as "missing", but rather "in need up upgrade". I really like Pixl anyway, so I'm covered there.
* Instagram. OK. Whatever. Instagram is an arrogant company that blocks other developers while not able to be bothered with developing for new platforms. Take complaints to them or use an alternative if it really is a "must have" for you.
* Snapchat. Looks like Snapchat protested and the alternatives are gone. I'd go complain directly to to Snapchat. Seriously, I don't have a crystal ball or anything, but you're wasting your time waiting on those Google Apps. We'll see Siri on Windows Phone about the same time you get Google Maps. If you are THAT addicted to Google services, I'd highly suggest that you consider an Android phone. <