Verious, a new mobile component marketplace (and recent Disrupt finalist), is announcing an expansion of its service today, to also include components for Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform as well as those for HTML5 mobile apps. The addition means there are now hundreds more components, SDKs, and open source projects available on Verious’s platform, which previously focused primarily on offerings for iOS and Android.
According to Verious founder, Anil Pereira, the company made the decision to add the Windows Phone category based on what it was seeing on both the consumer side of things – 80,000 Windows Phone apps, new Windows-enabled smartphones, and positive reviews – as well as on the developer side. Already the company had over 2,000 Windows Phone developers on its site via its Elance partnership, and several were asking about Windows Phone components and code on forums, Q&A sites and elsewhere on the web. Plus, adds Pereira, “we saw that a number of our existing component sellers/partners–as well as other developers and firms out there–have Windows Phone offerings that they are looking to market.”
“So triangulating consumer demand (Nokia, for example, has a very strong presence in the next key markets to adopt smartphones), developer demand, partner demand and Microsoft’s consumer and developer marketing efforts, we connected with Microsoft to compile the comprehensive catalogue of Windows Phone components,” says Pereira. The site now offers 200 components for the platform with more in the works. Some of the new additions include Metro-style icons, a physics engine, and Silverlight UI controls.
Pereira says that added components will help WP developers address the same pain points that others are also now facing when they move to new platforms. “Getting familiar with programming paradigms and UI standards through open source, SDKs, pre-built components and tools like UI templates and icon libraries is very beneficial, regardless of the level of expertise of the developer,” he explains. It also helps to use these types of pieces to speed up the time to market when porting from other platforms to Windows Phone.
To generate the new resource, Verious worked closely with Microsoft, and, in addition, has created business partnerships with many of the established independent software vendors selling Windows Phone components. Microsoft is also promoting the component listings on Verious.com directly from its MSDN AppHub.
As for HTML5, the platform has always been on the Verious roadmap – it was Windows Phone that the company had originally planned for a late 2012 launch. But given the (perceived? real?) demand, the company decided to bump up Windows Phone to coincide with the HTML5 addition today. Now, there are 100 HTML5 components on the site and many more on the way. All of the new additions will also be made available on the Verious Mobile Developer Network, announced earlier this year.
Today, Verious has thousands of listings on its site, but isn’t currently releasing numbers related to registered developers, downloads, licensing agreements or transactions made. The company also teased more “game-changing initiatives,” which will kick off in Q3 this year. Stay tuned.