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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: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday December 06 2015, @11:05PM
. But if MS ports the WinPhone APIs to AOSP then any developer that used WinPhone could also run on all android systems too - eliminating the biggest reason to avoid WinPhone.
No, the biggest reason to avoid WinPhone is Microsoft. No API is ever going to fix that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 07 2015, @02:11PM
That's great. Rah, rah for your tribe!
But that's not a consideration for 99.9% of app developers.