Microsoft woos devs, hypes up Windows licenses and ‘potential’ customers

If you thought Microsoft’s billion dollar plus Windows 8 ad campaign was just about getting ordinary people to buy its product, think again. The software giant is also trying to woo developers with a few punches aimed squarely at Android and iOS.

In the latest ad for Windows 8, the Redmond-based giant shows off some of the apps built for its OS but also takes on the two giants of the mobile and tablet space. The ad promises anyone willing to develop for Windows 8 “A worldwide app store with over 1 billion potential users!” and boasts that “Over the last 2 years, more Windows licenses have been sold than Android, iOS, and Macs combined.”

Okay fine, those statements might be accurate, but bear in mind that those figures say little about the success of Windows 8. Its store is also very young and there’s no guarantee that it’ll be able to compete effectively with Google and Apple’s app store offerings.

Then again, it’s already got a load of apps that allow you to do pretty much everything you need to from scheduling your entertainment to planning a trip and tracking your fitness. Still no Instagram though.

As The Next Web notes, this is hardly Microsoft’s most biting ad, but it does at least remind people that Windows 8 has an app store capable of providing people with most of the services they love on Android and iOS.