The Aviary SDK and apps (a name more usually associated with online image editing) are no longer undergoing development for Windows and Windows Phone. Citing a lack of “platform traction” the company explains that apps for both Windows platform, as well as the development kit, are no longer supported and will not be developed any further.
The revelation came about almost by accident. In a support forum post, Aviary wrote about the availability of new fonts for the iOS versions of the apps. This prompted a user to get in touch to ask what the Windows Phone and Windows situation was. The response was less than good news:
“Due to lack of general platform traction we are discontinuing development of Aviary technology on Windows / Windows Phone. Any currently released Aviary SDK or app for Windows should therefore be considered as-is and unsupported going forwards. However, your feedback is much appreciated and will be considered should we decide to revisit developing for Windows in the future.”
Both apps remain available in the Windows Phone store and Windows store, but there will be no further updates for the foreseeable future — the apps are now being provided ‘as-is’.
While this is just one title, it is a blow for users who are invested in Windows Phone handsets. The store may have hit a decent number of apps, but it still has some way to go to catch up with the number available in Google Play and the iOS App Store.
What can be done to improve developer faith in the Microsoft app ecosystem — any ideas?
UPDATE: Aviary’s CEO Tobias Peggs provided the following statement: “The situation is: for *this current quarter* we’ve focused on our iOS, Android and Web SDKs/APIs. We have 6,500 partners and 70MM monthly active users across those platforms – and all three are growing like crazy. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen that sort of traction for our platform on Windows (despite Windows itself doing well this year). So rather than continue to blindly release feature after feature after feature, we’ve simply paused to take a breath on development of our Windows platform, and actively listened to the Windows developer community to see what they really want from a photo editing SDK. Their feedback informs our future roadmap – so watch this space…”