Angry Birds developer claims Microsoft jumped the gun, Rovio ‘not committed’ to Windows Phone 7
Software developers make or break a platform, as Microsoft's Steve Ballmer once famously stressed, but that shiny new Windows Phone 7 site has angered a mildly important one of them.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft is in the final stretch before Windows Phone 7 reaches shelves, with UK carrier roadmaps pointing to an October 21 release and ads surfacing a November 8 US date alongside devices like the Samsung Focus for AT&T. Its newly launched consumer website apparently listed Angry Birds among the platform's titles — and Rovio publicly pushed back, saying Microsoft jumped the gun and that it is 'not committed' to the port.
The timing stings because Microsoft's mobile standing is already fragile: Ballmer's own SEC proxy filing last month docked him half his maximum bonus explicitly over the company's struggles in mobile. A launch lineup built partly on unconfirmed developer commitments is exactly the kind of misstep a third-place entrant cannot afford.
First-order effects
- Microsoft's pre-launch marketing takes a direct credibility hit: its own site advertised a flagship casual game its developer never agreed to deliver, forcing cleanup days before the October 21 European rollout.
- Rovio keeps its options open across platforms — Angry Birds is already established elsewhere, so the denial costs Rovio little while leaving Windows Phone 7's launch roster visibly thinner.
Second-order effects
- Every other developer Microsoft courted for launch now has leverage: if Rovio's listing could appear without a signed commitment, devs will demand firmer terms, revenue guarantees, or engineering support before lending their names to the platform.
- Carriers and retailers merchandising the November 8 US launch must sell a lineup whose most recognizable title is unconfirmed, weakening the shelf pitch against Apple's and Google's app catalogs.
Third-order effects
- If platform holders keep padding launch rosters with aspirational rather than committed titles, developer sign-off becomes the scarce currency of mobile ecosystems — and Ballmer's own line about developers making or breaking a platform becomes the test Windows Phone 7 fails or passes in public.
- A pattern of overpromised lineups would push Microsoft toward costlier first-party incentives or exclusivity deals to close the app gap, raising the structural price of being a late entrant in mobile.
The trend: Mobile platform launches are turning into public negotiations over developer commitments, with marquee third-party apps functioning as the make-or-break proof point for any challenger ecosystem.