Last year we were all a bit excited to see that Microsoft was working on Project Astoria which would see Android apps work on Windows Phone. But that excitement was short lived as Microsoft has seemingly halted the project in its tracks. Now there's word that Microsoft has switched gears and is working on Project Islandwood, a project that will bring iOS apps to Windows Phone. We're not certain why Microsoft chose to stop working on Project Astoria and drifted over to working with iOS instead, but it sounds like this project may differ a bit from Astoria.
Project Islandwood is designed to work with Windows Bridge and give developers a score on the compatibility of their app with Windows Phone. It will also tell the developer what they need to do to make it compatible. The hope here is that developers on iOS will now find it easier to port their apps to Windows Phone with much less hassle.
"You'll be able to see exactly how much work you'll have to do to bring your app to Windows, along with suggestions, tips and workarounds for any libraries you're using that the bridge doesn't support yet," Microsoft says.
The major factor in this project is, will developers want to even try porting their apps to Windows Phone? Even with an easier method to port apps, does the platform offer enough users to make it worth developers' time? Some might disagree with me, but I think Windows Phone is a pretty amazing OS, its major pitfall is the lack of popular apps and that's something Microsoft is trying to fix with Project Islandwood. I guess we'll see how this all pans out in the coming months as Islandwood is expected to be released in the next few weeks.
What do you think of Microsoft's latest attempt to attract developers? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
Source: Tech TimesSource: Has Microsoft Ditched Astoria For Islandwood, To Bring iOS Apps To Windows Phone?
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