Author Archives: admin

Azure Mobile Services and DateTimeOffset

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I use DateTimeOffset very extensively, my corresponding SQL Azure table in mobile services uses datetimeoffset(3) column. The issue that I had was somewhere during JSON.NET serialization, the DateTimeOffset lost the offset and got converted to UTC. I couldn’t find any solution, until I experimentally started playing with the Mobile Services Client SerializationSettings, exposed in the latest SDK. Changing DateTimeZoneHandling  didn’t seem to help much until I discovered this post by Carlos. I changed it a little bit, keeping the idea, and voila: my DateTimeOffset now saves in Azure Mobile Services, no problem. If you know a better way, please let me know:

 

                MobileService.SerializerSettings.DateTimeZoneHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.DateTimeZoneHandling.RoundtripKind;
                // remove date time converter
                var conv = MobileService.SerializerSettings.Converters.Where(c => c is MobileServiceIsoDateTimeConverter).FirstOrDefault();
                if (conv != null)
                {
                    MobileService.SerializerSettings.Converters.Remove(conv);
                }
 
 

Windows Phone: one week with professional ski and snowboard instructors

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Event Facts:
20+ teams lead by National level instructors with Windows Phones
200 ski and snowboard instructors
30+ Nokia Lumia Windows Phones uploading real-time stats and photos
Nokia and Microsoft employees helping on-site and skiing
1,000,000 vertical ft tracked by Winter Ski & Ride app
Technology used: Windows Phone, Windows Azure, SkyDrive and Windows 8
Altitude: 8,000 – 11,000 ft
= TOTAL SUCCESS

Tons of photos here

… even more photos and videos here

Windows Phone taken to the extreme

What’s the best proof of technology? Taking it to the extreme! Last week more than 200 attendees of the National Academy of Professional Ski Instructors of America and American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI) have been skiing, riding, taking pictures, videos and played with the apps, like the Winter app, at 10,000 ft elevations in the mountains of Utah. Microsoft and Nokia helped in this event, providing phones, skiing with the teams and of course showcasing the app for Windows Phone. Result? Thousands of pictures, videos, lots of smiling faces and memories that last.

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In the mountains of Utah…

All National team leads were given latest Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 Windows Phones, and they took them to the places, chutes, cornices, bowls and steep bumpy rides we could never think of. Together teams skied almost 1,000,000 ft vertical, tracked by Winter Ski & Ride app. The amount of April snowfall in Utah made every day the best day of skiing ever: with 5-8” of fresh snow falling almost every day, we also enjoyed days of sun and light, champagne powder.

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National level ski and snowboard event

The National Academy is an annual event gathering professional ski and snowboard instructors of America (PSIA-AASI), an organization of more than 32,000 ski and snowboard instructors training students in every region of the US. During the Academy instructors learn from the top national instructors.

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Microsoft and Nokia showing new technologies

Microsoft and Nokia representatives were very busy at the event, answering questions about Windows Phone, showcasing the app, making new friends and skiing! Some Microsoft employees skied for the first time, but after the event were ready to hit the slopes again! Presentation1

Photo: Matt Rothschild, Nokia’s head in North America demonstrating Nokia devices. Nokia and Microsoft showcasing devices, skiing and answering questions

What we learned

We’ve heard many great comments about Windows Phone, its video stabilization capabilities that make devices especially useful in the mountains, when taking instructional videos. Many mentioned superior device and camera capabilities that Windows Phone has, and also the software: such as Winter app that makes skiing with friends fun and also helps ski instructors teaching students. Together with PSIA-AASI, we also had a feedback and planning session from 30 national team leads, suggesting ideas for the next generation of Winter software and what a ski instructor may need in the mountains. This brainstorming will take the app to the next level. By the next season we are planning to significantly extend the app to include more exciting features.

SkyDrive + Windows Phone + Large Events = Awesomeness!

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Photo: Windows Phone SkyDrive settings

SkyDrive integration with Windows Phone provided seamless photo transfer from the mountain to the slideshows at night. Windows Phone 8 can seamlessly sync photos and videos with the SkyDrive, and with 30+ phones we managed that integration allowed us to instantly prepare slideshows at night, when the skiers came back from the mountain. To access this feature go to Photos –> SkyDrive Settings. We used PowerPoint to play the shows, but what we didn’t discover until the last night was the Windows 8 Photos app, which can also play the slide show!

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Photo: Windows 8 Photos app, notice Slide Show button at the bottom

Highlights

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Photo: PSIA Alpine Team member David Oliver, wearing Winter app snow-bandana.

Peter Kray, the author of “American Snow” book reached more than 100K vertical, skiing with the Winter app and had a goal of beating top skiers on the leaderboard. Pete’s book is beautifully printed, with pictures from both the old and modern days of ski instruction in America. Passionate skier himself, Pete says in his book: “To teach someone how to ski or snowboard is like sharing superpowers – giving the gift of motion, freedom, and flight – it’s the sensation of flying, with the world spinning beneath your feet and wind whipping across your face”.

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Custom made Winter skis made by Wagner Custom Skis to theme with the Winter app have proven to be a huge success: I skied them every day of the event, at various conditions: on groomers, steep, bumpy terrain and loved the way they feel. Winter app now includes a form where you can order skis made by Wagner with either Winter or any custom graphics. Skis are created personally for you to fit your skiing needs: Wagner makes any types of skis: from racing to big mountain skis. Born in the mountains of Colorado, in Telluride, these skis provided me with the best moments of my National Academy – at the end of the feedback session the skis were signed by national team leads – this will keep me motivated on working on the app in the summer. I hope to meet Pete Wagner personally to thank him for the joy of skiing his skis.

More about the event:

PSIA-AASI Selected as exclusive content provider for Winter Ski & Ride app

PSIA-AASI National Academy Day 2: Deep Returns, Hot App + Ages and Stages

Winter app

Photos taken by Nokia Lumia Windows Phone

Thanks!

Many thanks to Mark Dorsey, William McSherry, Earl Saline, Matt Rothschild, Thierry Doyen, Olga Vigdorovich, Matt Thompson, Warren Wilbee, Nisha Baxi, Kenny Spade, Randy Guthrie, Ain Indermitte, Razvan Furca, Ben Adams, Max Felix, Mike Hafer, Nick Herrin, Lane Cleua, David Oliver, Rob Sogard, Michael Rogan, Robin Barnes, Bob Barnes, Scott Anfang, Matt Boyd, Jennifer Simpson, Jeb Boyd, Dave Lyon, Ryan Christofferson, Jonathan Ballou, Jim Schanzenbaker, Heidi Effenger, Chris Fellows, Eric Lipton, Andy Docken, Dave Lundberg, Kelly Coffey, Pete Kray, Susan Urbanczyk and many others who helped organizing this event.

The best ski and snowboard app on the planet… exclusive to Windows Phone

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Windows Phone now has the best app in ski industry, leaving Apple and Google far behind, and raising the bar for ski apps very high: the app is called WINTER SKI & RIDE. For now the app is exclusively available on Nokia Windows Phones. WINTER SKI & RIDE is the official app of Professional Ski Instructors of America and American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI), the association of more than 30,000 US ski and snowboard instructors. You can download it today from NOKIA Collection, if you are lucky to have a Windows Phone 8.

UPDATE:

Microsoft.com News about WINTER

Microsoft Windows Phone blog about WINTER

WPCentral about WINTER

Stay warm! Skiers no longer need to take hands off their gloves in the cold, WINTER SKI AND RIDE is especially optimized for use with gloves in the cold, and NOKIA Lumia devices have glove sensitive screen, so you don’t need to take off your gloves in the cold to use the app. The app is optimized to run through your skiing day without draining your battery, and instead of punching buttons in the cold you can simply speak to it: “WINTER, Show me snow reports” for example.

WINTER SKI & RIDE is a unique app in many ways, it is developed by a Microsoftie, a professional ski instructor and a startup in Silicon Valley, an extremely powerful combination. The app is built in the US and Canada, and tested through snowstorms in the mountains of Colorado, Utah, California and British Columbia. Apparently, instead of spending time at Starbucks in Cupertino, Microsoft reached out to the field, and has developers who can ski and ride in the mountains, in cold and snow, to make the best app for skiing.

Instead of a bunch of different apps for weather, ski tracking and lessons, WINTER SKI & RIDE combines all features a skier needs in the mountain in one powerful app: snow reports, resort maps and information, such as the number of open trails, beautiful ski analytics and activity tracking, and lessons for skiing, telemark, snowboarding, freestyle and cross-country from professional ski and snowboard instructors.

SKI AND SNOWBOARD ACTIVITY ANALYTICS

Apparently, it takes a ski instructor and a Microsoftie to get a ski app right, finally! WINTER SKI & RIDE has an activity tracking switch, just turn it on when you are at ski resort, and you can put the phone back in your pocket. The smart app will automatically track your runs and present them in beautiful charts: you can see you runs by season, daily or even drill into the run details to see run details, such as speed, duration and vertical drop.

Not only that, WINTER SKI & RIDE motivates you to ski or ride more, and improve endurance, by setting goals. You can currently set vertical and run goals, and if you reach a goal, ta-da: your run is marked with an achievement pin, and you move closer to the leaders of the mountain.

LEADERBOARD OF BEST SKIERS AND RIDERS

WINTER SKI & RIDE is a very social app that lets you ski with your buddies and see the best skiers on the mountain.  You can also invite your friends and once you become friends with someone, you can share the runs and excitement about skiing.

SNOW REPORTS AND MAPS

WINTER SKI & RIDE automatically updates snow reports and you can view reports by proximity, by best conditions, powder, and maximum snow base. You can pin your favorite resorts as tiles to the start screen. The app beautifully presents resort information, shows vertical, open lifts and other information..

LESSONS: SKI, SNOWBOARD, TELEMARK, OH-MY…

Because WINTER SKI & RIDE is endorsed by Professional Ski Instructors of America, it has professional lessons from the best ski instructors on the planet. Lessons are carefully selected, adhering to the highest standards of the sport, lucky Windows Phone owners can now ski and learn.

SOCIAL

WINTER SKI & RIDE connects you with a social network of skiers and riders, making millions of ski buddies interconnected. This technology is based on Microsoft Windows Azure powerful cloud service. Do you want to see what runs your buddy did in Vail, or Whistler, or Chamonix? Just look him up on the Winter!

FOR SKI TEAMS AND COACHES

WINTER SKI & RIDE app changes the way coaches and ski instructors communicate with their students. By using the NFC technology available in Windows Phone, a ski instructor can instantly have a group of students join a team, and make recommendations based on a ski day, and individual runs.

WITH WINTER SKI & RIDE APP WINDOWS PHONE BECOMES TOP PLAYER IN WINTER SPORTS

With WINTER SKI & RIDE, Microsoft Windows Phone becomes a top player in the Winter sports. Forget the aging iPhone or battery-hungry Android. With the app endorsed by Professional Ski Instructors or America, Windows Phone becomes a very powerful player in the snowsports industry.

 

DOWNLOAD WINTER

Retrieving more data from Azure Mobile Services using paging and LoadAllAsync extension

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Azure Mobile Services allow you to take 50 records at a time by default, or 1000 records at maximum. What if you have more records and want to retrieve the entire table? I just created this beautiful extension method to help you get any amount of data you want, given any page size you want. This simple call to LoadAllAsync will asynchronously load ALL data from a WAMS table in pages of 1000 (or whatever number you specify) records (may also be good for bandwidth reasons):

var updatedReports = await azureTable.Where(r => r.complete == true).LoadAllAsync();

And this is an extension method, which elegantly does exactly what it says: loads all data. Enjoy:

        public async static Task<List<T>> LoadAllAsync<T>(this MobileServiceTableQuery<T> table, int bufferSize = 1000)
        {
            var query = table.IncludeTotalCount();
            var results = await query.ToEnumerableAsync();
            long count = ((ITotalCountProvider)results).TotalCount;
            if (results != null && count > 0)
            {
                var updates = new List<T>();
                while (updates.Count < count)
                {

                    var next = await query.Skip(updates.Count).Take(bufferSize).ToListAsync();
                    updates.AddRange(next);
                }
                return updates;
            }

            return null;
        }

Making $30,000 a month on Windows 8 apps

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When I started this project, I never thought about making any money at all: this is my hobby, what I like doing on the weekends and nights, when I’m away from my everyday business. Someone likes ping-pong or dancing, I like building apps and skiing.

I built several apps close to launch of Windows 8, including Card Games Chest , and is the first six months since Windows 8 launch apps my apps generated around $100,000 in ad revenue and sales (in-app purchase and ads, apps are free).

This post is NOT about how to get rich fast: I spent many nights and weekends, polishing the code, staying up late at night until 2AM coding. This is not easy: to build apps that can be used by half a million people from many different countries. I read all reviews, thousands of them, answered thousands of questions, made hundreds of improvements suggested by users to achieve this result. The truth is: any app reaching this stage is a work of art, it requires a lot of work, patience, time and dedication.

This is simply my account of what an individual developer can achieve in Windows ecosystem in just about 6 months.  I build everything: code, graphics, artwork, database, Azure backend. Everything.

If you are looking for code samples, this post is mostly about a story, but I posted quite a bit of code samples in this book, and my blog, and actually Microsoft documentation is very good, so if you are interested in the code please go there and you’ll find it.

D-Day, October 26th

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The days following October 26th (the release date of Windows 8) were a little bit of a shock to me (in a good, positive sense). What happened after October 26th is best illustrated on this hockey-stick chart, since then the total number of downloads rapidly reached half a million and keeps growing.

My regular job keeps me pretty busy, and oftentimes I didn’t have enough time to check the revenue, but in a couple of months following October 26th,  the numbers really started to grow, and finally reached the point when I decided to share the story, because I think that this is the “magic” moment for all Windows developers. Right now it is, and I hope that if you read this post, it’ll keep you motivated and you’ll know that this can happen, can happen to the app that you can build, providing it’s a good high quality product.

So, October 26th was the D-Day for all developers who believed in Windows ecosystem. If you want to time the market, the time-count started on October 26th, 2012. The 1+ billion strong ecosystem of Windows users opened doors for apps, and opened it quite literally by opening stores on millions of devices. And it worked!

Windows Store: Developer Prospective

What to expect from the Windows Store? The Windows Store helps you build, deploy, distribute, and sell your Windows 8 apps and in-app products. As a developer, you also have the option to monetize your app through ad revenue using the Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows 8 (as I have in my apps!). Integrating the SDK into your app is quick and easy to do – with a few lines of code, you can quickly get ads being served in your app in a non-intrusive manner.

On the paid apps and in-app purchases side, one significant advantage of the Windows Store, compared to the Apple or Google stores, is that your revenue share actually increases, as you make more sales. You take home 70%, and Microsoft commission is 30%, same as Apple or Google, but once your app starts making $25,000 in revenue, you take home 80%. As your app scales, you can expect to take home more, for example on a $1 million revenue, you’ll be taking home $97K more in revenue than your Apple or Google competitors. As a developer I like that.

The Windows Store API is very well documented and allows you to implement any type of business model: free, to pay-per-download, trial, in-app purchases and even subscriptions (by using ExpirationDate for example. In addition, you can use Microsoft Advertising SDK to monetize ads.

Revenue Split: Ads vs In-App Purchase

I’m often asked the question: what percentage of revenue is made from ads vs. in-app purchases. The answer is: that number changes greatly with the number of downloads, you may need to adjust your pricing model several times as your app begins to grow, so be prepared to update your app. Any answer I give you is meaningless, because it depends at least: a) on how good is your app b) how many downloads you have c) how long users stay in your app. I’m sure there’s half a dozen other variable to that equation.  When I passed half a million downloads, the ad revenue increased, but that depends on the nature of the app and volume. The ultimate formula is a black box for developers, and it better stays this way.

I don’t encourage you to start searching for Philosopher’s stone to start making gold from nothing, and instead focus on the content and quality of your apps. No magic in the world will help you if consumers don’t like your app.

Pricing your app

Windows Store allows you to price the apps between $1.49 and $999.99. Finding a sweet-spot for your app is an art rather than science, it greatly depends on the type of the app you make. You can do a little price-sensitivity analysis as I illustrated in my book (Ch. 11) to find a sweet spot. This blog post doesn’t intend to go deep into pricing models, but just give you an idea of what kind of revenues are possible in Windows today.

Would anyone buy your app for $999.99? Maybe there’re a few apps that fit that business model, but generally the number of downloads would be fairly small, if any. So, finding a sweet sport for your apps is something you need to think about.

Selling your apps and products

So, for example you have a game. Games are typically trial enabled, and may have in-app purchases in them. What it means is, you can let your customer download the game for a limited period of time, and then ask them to pay. You can also include paid levels or products into your games, or consumable products spent while playing the game, for example magic items, credits or gold.

Certifying and Publishing your app

Before you publish your app, run it through the app certification kit. I have a monthly Webcast at Microsoft, that provides tips on app publishing and certification. I hope if you look though our events schedule, you can find it and listen to it. There’s a lot of useful information there if you want to submit your app and are curious about how to make this process nice and smooth. Overall, Windows Store is very good at detecting early problems and at the end you benefit as a developer: Microsoft helps you make your apps better.

Magic moment in Windows Store

When I presented to the largest iOS meetup in Silicon Valley, I asked the audience of 200 pro-iOS developers a simple question: do you believe as a new developer I can enter Apple Store market today with a bunch of Solitaire games and make this kind of money? Their response was: you’ll waste your time, the Apple Store market is too saturated! I think every market has its magic moment, and this time existed in Apple store a few years ago, maybe even Android store had it (maybe), but I think that this time is in Windows Store today, and I don’t need any further proof than my banking account to tell me where the wind is blowing.

Build for Windows? Build for Windows Phone

Windows Phone is a great companion device for your Windows 8 apps. I recently built a top app for Windows Phone as well, and I think every developer should consider both Windows 8 and Windows Phone, because they are also part of the ecosystem and augment each other. The apps are very easy to port from one system to another. While the namespaces are different, the code is mostly portable, first by using PCLs (Portable Code Libraries) and re-using most of the logic.

Where to start

Windows 8 is a fantastic operating system, fast, fluid, with beautiful modern design targeting both tablet and desktop, sensors, NFC support, amazing new concepts built into user interface both touch and desktop, and did I mention: it’s fast! I can also re-use most of my code for Windows Phone. The beauty of Windows is that it spans across all kinds of devices: from phones to tablets, to desktops, to servers and gaming consoles, such as XBOX.

Windows is very developer friendly. You have plenty of languages and modern technologies to choose from, and the development tools, Visual Studio and Blend are stunningly good! You can use JavaScript and HTML5, C#, XAML and .NET, or C++. You can also use many of the frameworks to build your apps, most of them support Windows.

Some developers ask me about the best PCs to choose: visit a Microsoft Store, check out some new models available there. I personally like convertibles, and the touch screen is highly recommended. There’re so many vendors, that it really becomes the choice of your lifestyle.

Monetizing Windows 8 apps: examples from my book

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If you are looking for code examples for Professional Windows 8 Programming: Application Development with C# and XAML book, specifically for the monetization section, you can get them directly from Wiley:

Chapter 11 code for Pro Windows 8 Programming
563.02 KB
Click to Download

What I’ve done in that example is helping you put all monetization techniques together: from unlocking the trial, to using in-app purchase. There’re some neat ideas implemented with the example, for example I use an MVVM model to wrap store licensing schema.

I recommend reading the book first, about the ideas implemented here. This snippet illustrates the first technique of using an MVVM model to wrap the store objects. This may be necessary if you need to expose them later through data binding.

 

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using CatalogShoppingAppCS.Data;
using Windows.ApplicationModel.Core;
using Windows.ApplicationModel.Store;
using Windows.Foundation;
using Windows.UI.Core;

namespace CatalogShoppingAppCS
{
    public class AppLicenseDataModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

        private bool _licensed = false;
        private string _price;

        public AppLicenseDataModel()
        {
            if (CurrentAppSimulator.LicenseInformation.IsTrial)
            {
                CurrentAppSimulator.LicenseInformation.LicenseChanged += OnLicenseChanged;
                GetListingInformationAsync();
            }
            else
                _licensed = true;
        }

        private async void GetListingInformationAsync()
        {
            var listing = await CurrentAppSimulator.LoadListingInformationAsync();
            _price = listing.FormattedPrice;
        }

        private async void OnLicenseChanged()
        {
            if (!CurrentAppSimulator.LicenseInformation.IsTrial)
            {
                _licensed = true;
                CurrentAppSimulator.LicenseInformation.LicenseChanged -= OnLicenseChanged;

                // need this to the license change occurs on a different thread
                // to update UI bound elements from the data model
                CoreApplication.MainView.CoreWindow.Dispatcher.RunAsync(CoreDispatcherPriority.Normal, () =>
                {
                    if (IsLicensed)
                    {
                        var groups = CatalogDataModel.GetGroups("AllGroups");
                        foreach (var group in groups)
                            foreach (var item in group.Items)
                                item.IsAdDisplayed = false;
                    }

                    if (PropertyChanged != null)
                    {
                        PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(String.Empty));
                    }
                });
            }
        }

        public bool IsLicensed
        {
            get { return _licensed; }
        }

        public bool IsTrial
        {
            get { return !_licensed; }
        }

        public string LicenseInfo
        {
            get
            {
                if (!_licensed)
                    return "Trial Version";
                else
                    return ("Valid until " + CurrentAppSimulator.LicenseInformation.ExpirationDate.LocalDateTime.ToString("dddd, MMMM d, yyyy"));
            }
        }

        public string FormattedPrice
        {
            get
            {
                if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(_price))
                    return "Upgrade to the full version for " + _price;
                else
                    return "Upgrade to the full Version";
            }
        }
    }
}

Professional Windows 8 Programming: Application Development with C# and XAML

Data, Files and Networking in Windows 8 apps: examples from my book

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If you are looking for code examples for Professional Windows 8 Programming: Application Development with C# and XAML book, specifically for the section on handling data, files and networking, you can get them directly from Wiley:

Chapter 6 code for Pro Windows 8 Programming
11.23 MB
Click to Download

These examples include everything: from managing local and remote settings, to networking and proximity.

MarkedUp to Windows 8 apps is what Google Analytics is to Web sites

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MarkedUp may become to Windows 8 apps what Google Analytics is to a large portion of the Web sites: an easy to add analytics solution that gives an insight developers need for their Windows 8 apps. I’d like to quote MarkedUp Web site to explain their solution goals in their own words:

MarkedUp is an analytic and logging service built from the ground up to support Windows 8 apps (also known as metro-style apps) in the WinRT environment. Designed to be usable across all of the supported WinRT language from JavaScript to C# to C++ the client SDK allows you to capture analytics and diagnostic logging no matter your preference in development language.

If you want a quick overview on how MarkedUp works and how to install it into your Windows 8 apps, check out our MarkedUp tutorial video.

Continue reading →

Ready to make some money, Windows 8 is coming!

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This weekend I invite you to my session at Silicon Valley Code Camp 2012:

We’ll discuss Windows 8 Store, monetization and… a bit of a surprise: for the first time I’ll be announcing my book Professional Windows 8 Programming: Application Development with C# and XAML
, written with a great team of authors: Nick Lecrenski, Doug Holland, Allen Sanders, Kevin Ashley. At this session we’ll focus on practical aspects of monetizing Windows 8 apps. I’ll share some code examples, including: in-app purchase, trial unlocking, placing ads in the apps and using trial model to support monetization. We’ll also touch on more advanced topics, and as an author of several apps in Windows Store, I’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Windows 7 sold over 500 million copies in just three years, if Windows 8 does that well this is going to be one of the biggest opportunities our industry has ever seen. Come learn how to get your app into the Windows Store and how to make money. After all, you want to be the first app in the marketplace and have the early mover advantage, don’t you?

SESSION CODE EXAMPLES INCLUDE: Trial, in-app purchases, store simulation.

1:45 on Saturday

Foothill College
12345 El Monte Road
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

http://binged.it/WmQYKH

Windows 8 for iOS Developers (Part I)

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I happened to attend a weekly class by Joe Conway, the author of iOS Programming “The Big Nerd Ranch Guide”. The class covered ObjectiveC and iOS development, but today I’d like to talk about what wasn’t covered in this class: mainly discuss how can an iOS/Apple developer get into Windows 8 world, and what are the differences between iOS and Windows 8 development from the programmer’s prospective. Especially, this post is for Apple iOS developers: it may sound strange, but despite the obvious differences between the platforms, you’ll easily find ways of doing familiar tasks in Windows 8.

I have to admit that Joe’s task was daunting, but Joe handled it brilliantly. With about 20 Microsoft developers in the audience he had to give an ObjectiveC iOS class. The great news for iOS developers: by learning Windows you will actually advance in your computer science class, and may be even by a lot! As Joe put it: there’re two sides of the spectrum: one is people who ask me to fix syntax errors, another is you guys with “why can’t you do it that way”? With Windows some relatively hard tasks become easy and possible: editing animations, asynchronous programming, neat process management, I hope these topics will be interesting for you. This won’t be a side-by-side comparison, instead I’ll focus on helping developers move from iOS to Windows and learn something new along the way.

Continue reading →