Things are starting to hot up in the mobile operating system wars, with Apple’s iOS and Android from Google battling it out for supremacy in the pockets of the world. While the two giants battle it out though, it’s always worth remembering they aren’t the only two boxers in this particular ring. Microsoft has high hopes for its Windows Phone 7 platform, though a lack of apps has held the OS back thus far. Now Microsoft is looking to rectify that by giving developers an easier way to port their iOS apps to WP7.
As WMPowerUser reports, Microsoft’s new porting tool tries to break down the barriers usually associated with taking an app from one platform and porting it to another by giving developers an easy way to take iOS API calls and map them straight to existing Windows Phone 7 APIS.
To help with the whole process Microsoft is also providing a hefty 90+ pages of documentation for developers to ponder, aptly named the ‘Windows Phone 7 guide for iPhone application developers". No mistaking what that does, then.
Microsoft isn’t playing around with WP7 and clearly recognizes that the key to a successful mobile operating system is a store full of good quality applications. With Apple’s App Store and Android’s Market streets ahead, Microsoft has some catching up to do and this new tool could well prove pivotal in the mobile OS wars.
Windows Phone API Mapping Tool can be downloaded from here.
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