Warning, this is going to be a bit of a rant, but it’s been driving me crazy for a little while.

If you’re following along (and chances are no one is) you know that I recently released my first app for Windows Phone. Since then, I have been following the apps progress in downloads and ad revenue through Microsoft’s provided reporting tools on both PubCenter and AppHub. The reports are pretty decent for the most part, and give me the data I’m looking for except for 1 things. The lag in data.

The data for ad revenue is delayed by 3-6 hours (I’ve seen as much as 12 hours). It drove me crazy when I first released the app because it was the only data I could get. I’ve made my peace with this and I now only check the previous day’s total, and I don’t do that every day.

The delay that really grinds my gears is the downloads number in the AppHub. That number is delayed 6 days. There reasoning? That’s how long it takes to process credit card transactions.

Wait, I wasn’t reporting on number of sales, I was reporting on number of downloads. People can download my app for free, other apps have a trial period. Why are the download numbers for those being delayed? If your app is trial/buy, the report doesn’t give you an accurate reflection of sales, nor does it give you an up to date number of downloads.

I suggest this: Allow us to view reports of downloads and trials in a much more up to date fashion. A 1 day delay at most. And have another option to view the number of sales which would be delayed by the 6 days it takes to process a credit card.