“2008 marks the 5th year that I have published a end-of-the-year Top 10 applications for Windows Mobile. I enjoy doing this little round up each year as it allows me to take a look back at all of the new and exciting applications that came out in 2008 and narrow them down to the ten applications that I think every Windows Mobile owner should have on their device. The trick, however, is narrowing it down to 10 applications! 2008 marked a banner year for many developers in the community as virtually every major application available at the beginning of the year had been updated once if not twice by the time December rolled in.”
Clinton Fitch has posted a list of the top 10 applications released this year for Windows Mobile. It’s a pretty interesting list when you consider that the list is dominated by 3 different companies. There are 4 applications from Spb, 2 from Vito, as well as 2 from Illium. Resco and Astraware both have just 1 application. There’s no question in my mind that these companies make top-notch applications. I do wonder what’s happened to the software marketplace for Windows Mobile. Have all the small guys packed up shop and moved on to Apple or Google’s mobile platform? Or is this just a result of the best getting better?
I had a chance to check out some of the different applications available for the iPhone and G1 recently. There are some that are poorly done, but there’s a lot of really nicely designed and developed applications from smaller vendors. Most of the big guys have ported over to at least the iPhone platform, and their applications are still top-notch. But there are many other top-notch applications to pick from. Once upon a time, that was the case on Windows Mobile. Not so much anymore.
One of the largest limiting factors for developers is the initial cost to building on the Windows Mobile platform. In order to compile your application for Windows Mobile, you need to purchase a copy of Visual Studio. The Express edition is great for those looking to tinker and develop desktop or Client/Server applications. But it won’t allow you to compile for the mobile platform. In order to compile for mobile, you need to buy one of the full versions, which can be very cost prohibitive, especially if your just looking to tinker around and see what you can do.
Both Apple and Google have made their platform open and allow anyone to compile for it without paying big bucks first. This is a great design as it gets all the hobbyists to build for their platform. Trying different applications and before you know it, they’ve turned into a larger ISV that’s cranking out the apps.
I’m a long way from the original focus of this post, so I’ll wrap things up by saying 2 things. First; Microsoft, wake up and reduce the cost of your development tools for the mobile platform and maybe you can bring some life back to Windows Mobile Marketplace. And Second; Click on over to Clinton’s top ten applications for Windows Mobile and see what he’s rated as a must have. You might just find a new must have application for your device. 
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