Chapter 23. Deploying and selling your app
This chapter covers
- Testing for certification
- Sideloading for testing
- Listing in the Windows Store
- Enabling trial mode
In most development platforms we write about, the topic of deployment is more a discussion of the mechanical process of building a setup package of some type, checking dependencies and framework versions, putting the download on a website, and then letting people have at it. For Windows Store apps, the deployment process is both simpler and more important.
We’re not going to talk much about coding or design (well, just a little) in this final chapter but more about getting your app out in front of your audience through the Windows Store. With the exception of the Windows Phone, this is new territory for Microsoft and for Microsoft developers; we’ve never before had a proper unified purchasing location for apps on our PCs. We’ve also never had the kind of opportunity that the Windows Store represents; getting an app into a retailer’s product catalog was just not possible for most individuals and small companies, and one-off sales through personal websites rarely panned out.