Windows 10 phones will (sort of) run Android & iOS apps

[froggyboy604]

But Android and iOS? That’s interesting. How will they do it? Visual Studio will now support code written in Java and C++ for Android apps.

That doesn’t mean an Android Developer will be able to plug in code and submit an app. It just means code already written can potentially be used in a Windows 10 application. Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s chief of operating systems, says Windows Phones will have an “Android subsystem” that will “take advantage of the Android code but also the extensions you would write in the Windows platform” to, you know, “delight” users.

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I'm not sure if I want to use a phone which "Sort of" run Android and iOS Apps.

I think I rather get a Blackberry 10 based smartphone which now has access to the Amazon App Store which is the second largest Android App Store in the world. The Amazon Fire Phone also looks like a better choice for people looking for an alternative smartphone which does not use the official version of Google Android.

Plus, iOS Apps run best on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, so if I needed to use iOS apps, I get an iPod Touch or iPad.

 

[lb]

What I understand from this is that Microsoft gave up on the idea of ever competing with Google and Apple in terms of apps (they lack quite a few popular apps, such as Snapchat and Instagram), and they just went the Blackberry way in which they will just allow developers to adapt or sideload apps from other operating systems...

That's quite disappointing.

 

[froggyboy604]

What I understand from this is that Microsoft gave up on the idea of ever competing with Google and Apple in terms of apps (they lack quite a few popular apps, such as Snapchat and Instagram), and they just went the Blackberry way in which they will just allow developers to adapt or sideload apps from other operating systems...

That's quite disappointing.

I agree, it is disappointing. But, at least, now some users on Windows Phone can use apps like Instagram, and Snapchat on their phone instead of being stuck with no way to use Snapchat, or Instagram.

 

[Cierra]

This is at least a step in the right direction, Windows Phones are pretty limited app wise.

 

[froggyboy604]

This is at least a step in the right direction, Windows Phones are pretty limited app wise.

I agree, this is a step in the right direction since there are not many choices in Apps in the Windows Phone App store.

It would be great if Microsoft also made it possible to run Windows Desktop software like Firefox, GOM Media Player, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc work on Windows Phone since a lot of mobile apps still don't have useful features which are in Desktop software.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

This will shake up the market if true.

 

[lb]

I just tried to use Kik on my Windows Phone smartphone today. It was buggy as hell, it kept crashing when I wanted to enter the conversation info page and it didn't even have all the features that the app has on iOS. My mom has a Windows Phone too and she can't even register a Kik account. It displays a message saying "Unknown error"... This is pathetic for an operating system that has been around for 4 years.

 

[froggyboy604]

It is too bad that web apps made with HTML5 and JavaScript never really became popular compared to native apps written in Java, C, Apple's Swifts, C++, etc which are most popular.

With HTML5 web apps, you can just use it from within a browser, or browser window without an address bar.

Web apps could solve the problem of unpopular operating systems not having enough developers making apps for their platform.