With the upcoming release of Windows Tango and the lowered hardware requirements, Microsoft is sending out emails to all app developers that may be affected by the new hardware. This email states that only around 5% of the apps on the Marketplace are affected, but that those 5% will not appear in the Marketplace to users with 256MB of hardware or less.
This is the start of fragmentation, as if a developer chooses not to optimize their app to run on low-scale hardware, then those who buy budget hardware will not have full access to the apps available to them.
It’s interesting to see Microsoft take this approach, since they believe that the lower hardware requirements and reduced prices will really help with market penetration. However, in order to gain traction in the United States, the last thing Windows Phone should appear to be is under powered.
[via WPCentral]
