I previously blogged about our users’ intentions to develop Metro-style apps (now called Windows 8-style apps). The previous post was based on two surveys that we ran in October 2011 and March 2012.
We asked the same question in our October 2012 customer survey. However, before answering the question regarding Metro-style apps, we first asked our users to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to their intention to upgrade to Windows 8 O/S or their desire to purchase the Surface tablet.
We received 822 responses from the U.S., compared to 1,265 responses from around the world. In order to remain consistent with my previous post, I’ll limit the following charts by pulling data from only our U.S.-based users.
In October of 2011, 7% of DiscountASP.NET users had already started developing Windows 8-style apps using the available betas. The percentage increased slightly to 9% in March 2012.
Charts 1 and 2 show our October 2012 survey results. The percentage of our users who have already started developing Windows 8-style has increased to 13% for users who answered ‘yes’ to intending to upgrade to the Windows 8 O/S.
While for users who answered ‘yes’ to their desire to purchase the Surface tablet, this percentage jumped to 24%. We conclude from this that Surface tablet buyers are more likely to start developing Windows 8-style apps.
Similarly, the number of users who were planning to develop Windows 8-style apps within the next 3 to 12 months is higher for the “Surface tablet buyer” group than the “Windows 8 upgrade” group. 60% of the he “Surface tablet buyer” group intend to develop Windows 8-style apps within the next 3 to 12 months, compared to 47% for the “Windows 8 upgrade” group.
Chart 3 shows that the percentage of DiscountASP.NET users who are not planning to develop Windows 8-style applications. The number of users who are not planning to develop Windows 8-style apps is higher for the “Windows 8 upgrade” group (31%) than for the “Surface tablet buyer” group (14%).
In summary, the interest among our users in developing Windows 8-style apps almost doubled within the past 12 months. We believe that the Surface tablet buyers are more open to building Windows 8-style apps than those who intend to upgrade to Windows 8.
Since we ran our survey, both Windows 8 and the Surface tablet have officially launched. We will continue to monitor our user’s interest in the new O/S platform, new Microsoft hardware, and if they turned their intent to develop Windows 8 apps into actual apps.