I heard folks for years criticize Microsoft for just waiting a bit, watching Apple, and then copying what Apple does. I've never had issue with Microsoft on that, insofar as no laws have been broken. It's like when my son asks for ice cream and his year-younger cousin, standing right next to him, exclaims, "Me too!"
So at my Windows 8 Meetup group last night, the moderator briefly showed (the app management portion of) Microsoft's equivalent of Apple's iTunes Connect. This was to give current and prospective Microsoft app developers a view into what tools are available to manage their app pre-, during, and post-development. Very much a meet too experience, but very well executed in design. Definitely not what would have been typically expected of Microsoft a few years ago.
I lost power half-way through this post. Thank God for the cloud :)
The caveat is that you do need to pay the $99 USD, for the Microsoft app developer program (same price as Apple), to get access to the tools. However you do get more in terms of basic analytics, in terms of how a published app is doing, including more detail on: who, how, and from where the traffic originates with multiple graphing layouts. An additional caveat is that these additional analytics are based on users opting-in to be tracked accordingly. The issue with that is that you're never guaranteed a complete picture of the additional details in terms of percentages, for example. Still, it's a starting point.
So, the next time someone's offering good ice cream, don't be bashful. Say, "Meet to!"
It's efficient. Plus, I think Steve Jobs would approve.
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