Microsoft revamps Windows Phone Dev Centre with Paypal support

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Microsoft has updated its Windows Phone Dev Centre allowing developers to accept money through Paypal.

Microsoft recently retired its App Hub developer web site for Windows Phone developers but has come back with a shiny new front-end and, the company claims, a better back-end to ensure smoother operation. For developers, Microsoft's biggest update is support for payments through Paypal in countries where the service operates.

Microsoft also touted the impending increase in regions where its Windows Phone Marketplace operates and said the design changes in the Dev Center were made to make it easier for developers to flog their wares in many countries. The firm said developers can set separate prices for applications in different markets.

Trying to attract developers, Microsoft talked about increasingly detailed analytics showing the breakdown of how Windows Phone users are buying applications. The firm said its back-end improvements should result in lower latency in generating application reports.

Microsoft's Dev Centre update comes ahead of the launch of Windows Phone 8. The firm hopes that Windows 8 will somehow help Windows Phone 8 gain market share, but given that its efforts in the last two years have failed, it might need more than a fancy developer web site to get developers' valuable time. µ