14 DAY TRIAL // On Thursday, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft announced the availability of new language for its Dev Center for Windows Phone app builders.
Up until now, the portal has been available for developers in only four languages, namely Chinese Simplified, English, Japanese, and Korean, but the company decided to add more of them now, so as to make things more appealing to developers.
Following the change, the number of languages the Dev Center is available in has increased to 10, courtesy of the addition of Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
“Developers from all over the world use Dev Center as the place to get the latest news, information on how to design, develop and publish apps, interact with the community, and manage app submissions,” Microsoft announces in a blog post.
“Windows Phone Dev Center has been available in Chinese Simplified, English, Japanese and Korean, and now in order to help more developers get the most of out of this portal, we have expanded the number of supported languages from 4 to 10.”
Starting May 15, Windows Phone developers logging into the Dev Center will see that both the portal pages and the dashboard can be enjoyed in the aforementioned additional languages.
Moreover, Microsoft explains that the same applies to the universal Windows Phone 8.1/Windows 8.1 XAML documentation, which has been translated into the said 6 new languages, so as to make things easier for developers.
The first smartphone to run under the new Windows Phone 8.1 OS has landed on shelves this week, in the form of Nokia Lumia 630, and it should be followed by Lumia 930 soon, with handsets coming from other manufacturers also set to be released in the not-too-distant future.
Those who currently have the Dev Center in English but would like to change it to one of the new languages will be able to do so from the settings icon available at the bottom of Dev Center.
Moreover, Microsoft notes that all developers who will change their language should offer feedback on the experience they receive now.
With this move, Microsoft is trying to make its Windows Phone developer resources more appealing to application builders, so as to make sure that more of them become interested in making their software available for the platform.
Windows Phone has been increasingly popular among end-users all around the world and is expected to continue growing especially in emerging markets, where cheap handsets are enjoying high demand.
However, the competition on the entry-level segment of the market is increasing, and Microsoft will have to find new ways to attract users to it.