With Windows Phone 8 having been officially released by Microsoft this week, most analysts are of the opinion that it will ultimately be the developers who will play the key role in the success, or otherwise, of the platform.

Noting that the ultimate success of Windows Phone 8 depends on developers, IDC analyst Al Hilwa said that the main factor which will count towards the success of the newly-launched platform will be the `traction' it will have with the developers.

Drawing attention to the fact that Windows Phone 8 underscores a changed development model, thereby resulting in a lot of apprehension in the developer ecosystem; Hilwa said that the decision of the developers to create apps for the platform will largely based on whether there will be "enough devices" for running the apps.

As such, according to Hilwa, the profitability of developing apps for Windows Phone 8 devices will, obviously, be one of the leading factors that will help the developers decide to create apps for the new platform.

Pointing out that "what they (Microsoft) have now in terms of hardware and developer capability is extremely competitive with other platforms," Hilwa said: "What Microsoft has not done yet is to find a way to run phone apps on Windows or create a universal executable approach similar to iPhone."