Rudy Huyn is easily one of the best third-party Windows Phone developers, having released unofficial versions of several major apps that often exceed their official counterparts. Now instead of just making his own app, he's rightly laying the problem at the feet of the companies responsible for not promoting their Windows Phone apps.
With the hashtag #dontforgetyourownapp, Huyn is going after companies that have refused to list their Windows Phone apps on their own websites. The campaign began with a simple statement: As a Windows Phone user, Huyn is tired of companies neglecting their official apps on Microsoft's smartphone platform.
In the past, I've brought some missing apps on #windowsphone, today, as a user,I want to say something to companies #dontForgetYourOwnApp !!
— Rudy Huyn (@RudyHuyn) July 2, 2014
Huyn proceeded to call out Spotify for not listing its Windows Phone app on its official website as well as Facebook for not listing its Windows Phone app on its website (that app, however, is managed by Microsoft, though Facebook created and updates its own app for Windows). Since Huyn's tweets, other users have begun calling out other companies for not listing their apps on their official websites, but some have even taken the campaign further.
Several users have tweeted at companies who have released poor-quality or broken apps, ranging from Instagram to Crackle. Ironically, one app that users aren't calling out is the app for the social media service they're using for the campaign; Twitter's app for Windows Phone hasn't been updated since November, despite several updates to its Android and iOS apps.
Huyn's campaign highlights perhaps the most glaring problem with Windows Phone: While it may lack the amount of apps that Android and iOS have, it's more troubling that the apps that do get released are neglected by their companies. Almost no official Windows Phone app, save for Microsoft's own apps, match the feature sets of their iOS and Android counterparts, and as a result, companies don't promote them. This is likely why Microsoft is considering allowing Android apps to run on Windows Phone, though such an outcome may be unlikely.
Source: Rudy Huyn (Twitter) via WMPoweruser
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