Microsoft Intros Windows Phone App Studio to Promote App Development

At last count, based on the most recent Kantar WorldPanel ComTech report, Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile OS sat at 4 percent of the U.S. market. There's no single reason for this, but rather a combination of factors working against the platform, including Microsoft's late entry to the market, the sheer visual difference Windows Phone presents over Android and iOS, and the number of apps in the Windows Phone app market.

It's the latter factor, though, that gathers the most attention — possibly because it represents the situation with a nice, round number. Either way, it is true that, while Windows Phone celebrated hitting the 100,000 app mark in July, while the iPhone App Store and Google Play both sit around one million.

However, it seems Microsoft has a plan to get its numbers closer in line to what Apple and Google are bringing to the table: Windows Phone App Studio. With the launch of the beta version of this developer tool Tuesday, anyone can create a Windows Phone app from the Web without needing and knowledge of code. The Verge describes it as a set of templates that allows developers to quickly drag and drop text, imagery and even content into a Web form for quick and easy app creation.

Aside from that, Windows Phone App Studio also enables developers to unlock and register a phone to side-load and test apps created with the tool completely free. That said, apps won't be automatically listed in the store; developers will still have to pay the Dev Center registration fee before completing this step.

Furthermore, Microsoft has updated its developer center with a live chat service acting as a direct line to support reps to further smooth along app creation.

"Getting started is easy — just create a Microsoft account, choose your template, and begin adding your content. Windows Phone App Studio does the rest. When your app is ready to go, you can download the app to your own phone, or share it with others by publishing it to the Windows Phone Store," states Microsoft's official accompanying blog post.