400 million copies of Windows 8 to be sold in 12 months
View(s):By Jagdish Hathiramani
Microsoft expects to sell 400 million copies of its October 2012-launched operating system (OS) within 12 months, according to Wellington Perera, Director for Developer Platform Evangelism of Microsoft Sri Lanka.
Wellington Perera (right) and Microsoft Country Manager Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne (left). Pic by Mangala Weerasekera.
Speaking at a media event to highlight the functionality of its most recent Windows 8 OS, Mr. Perera also noted that so far his company had trained over 600 students from state and private universities in application (app) development for the platform. These were mainly from the University of Moratuwa, but also included Colombo, Peradeniya, Rajarata, Uva and Jaffna as well as even private universities.
As a result, there were now about 80 locally developed apps available, mostly for free, at the Windows Store. These could be found by searching the keyword “Sri Lanka”. There would also be a 100 more apps, currently in development, which would be available by this coming April.
Mr. Wellington also revealed that the most popular of this was an app called “Fun Stuff” which was his own idea and which was developed in conjunction with one of his students. This is a free to use app that was downloaded 10,000 times within five weeks.
Also featured at the event was a former winner of the local leg of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, University of Moratuwa student Malinda Silva, who has currently developed apps including the “Sri Lanka Cook Book”, the “Omi” card game and the “Pancha Keliya” indoor game. In addition, university colleague Rukshan Dangalla was also on hand to showcase a Sri Lankan travel app called “City Guide” he had developed. The latter offers guides to more than ten local cities and their associated places of interest. These are categorised into “tea country”, “ocean”, “heritage”, “historical”, “cultural” and “wild life” and “night life”, and each includes weather profiles, places of interest, hotels, etc.
It was also stated at the event that, initially, app developers on this platform face “hardships” because of an inability to utilise payment gateways facilities, which are not available in Sri Lanka, to sell apps. However, it was also noted that this hurdle was overcome by using a “new simple mechanism” where apps could be purchased via savings accounts.
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