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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was busy explaining to a stock holders meeting that the company's plan to improve the Windows Phone's sales was to appeal to Windows developers by allowing them to write universal applications that work on computers, phones and tablets, targeting a larger array of devices than just Microsoft's handsets.
Steve Ballmer, still a major stock holder, blurts out
"That won't work, Instead, the company needs to enable Windows Phones to run Android apps."
He was possibly right, but the outburst was about as welcome as a cactus in an outhouse.
The Application market for Windows phone is a mess. If it is free, Facebook, Skype, Twitter, it gets downloaded. If the developer charge much of anything at all, apps just don't sell. And developers just aren't spending any time developing for Windows Mobile.
It's not clear exactly what Ballmer meant by his comments, however. Was he implying that Windows Phones need to run apps that were originally designed for Android, and then ported over to Windows? In that case, he's probably aware that Project Astoria, the Windows "bridge" tool that will allow developers to port Android apps to Windows, has been reportedly put on hold.
Ballmer's cryptic comment could also imply that he thinks an emulation layer might be the best bet.
But there is a third option: As strange as it sounds, a Windows-branded Android phone might not be so far-fetched.
The Fine Article at PCWorld goes on to explain that Android is mostly Open Source. And Microsoft could fork Android just like Amazon did, just like Barns and Nobel did, and then simply put a Windows Skin on it and substitute their own app store for Google's app store.
Reports are that the Windows Phone is not actually horrible. But it is still unloved.
Does anyone here believe this would work? Has Microsoft waited too long?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Sunday December 06 2015, @11:14AM
Well, look at how great Android support was for Blackberry. Really saved their bacon. Put them over the top. Supporting Android apps has never been the answer to any question about also-ran mobile platforms and isn't now. The ONLY people who have done it right were Barnes and Noble, which adopted the full Google Play ecosystem on their Nook to replace their terrible app store, and it STILL did not save the Nook from oblivion.
Both MS and BB suffer from making Android too complicated. BB's Android support was ridiculously complex and too much bother for developers, with all this crazy stuff to emulate the BB devices and sign your APK. I looked at it and gave up. Then I could not get MS's emulator to work (trashed my machine totally - took over the ethernet card) let alone whatever Android support they were trying to have. This stuff needs to be easier for Android developers. Submit APK, and you're done. No porting, no jumping through hoops, etc. Make it easy on Android developers to support your platform. The burden is on you because it's your also-ran platform that is in white-cliffs-of-Dover fail mode. Developers have enough to do to support viable platforms.
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 2) by BK on Sunday December 06 2015, @06:10PM
But MS isn't Blackberry... BB can be replaced by an app.
At least for now, MS has a huge installed base in the enterprise. If MS can find a way to make their app ecosystem useful and usable, they should have a market.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Sunday December 06 2015, @06:11PM
I used a blackberry passport and classic for a little while. I liked the OS a lot but there was a significant app gap compared to other platforms. The Android compatibility layer reminded me a lot of WINE. Most apps worked perfectly or nearly perfectly. However a not insignificant number didn't work at all or had its functionality limited. I was impressed with what they made, but it just wasn't enough.
The biggest issue was due to Android licensing issues that will plague any vendor trying to do this. Blackberry was unable to add Google Play Services, which a large portion of apps rely upon. The community figured out a way to install a modified version of Google Play Store and Google Play Services. However apps needed to manually have their APKs patched to accepted the modified Google Play Services. Also not all apps were able to be patched and even the ones that took the patch didn't run 100% properly.
I miss my time on BlackBerry 10, it had a lot of potential. I went back to Android unfortunately as I need a smartphone to do more than simply make calls, text, and email.