Microsoft's plan to make its new version of Windows a mobile hit by letting it accept tweaked Apple and Android apps has met an obstacle: some of the software developers the company needs to woo just aren't interested.
Windows phones accounted for just three per cent of global smartphone sales last year, compared with about 81 per cent for devices with Google's Android system and 15 per cent for Apple, according to research firm IDC. One reason is that Windows doesn't run as many or as attractive apps as its rivals.
To boost sales of its phones and new operating system, Microsoft said last month that it would provide tools to software developers to make it easier to design apps for Windows based on apps that run on Android or Apple. But because so few people use a Windows phone, most developers remain focused on the more popular systems and don't see a need to develop apps for Windows. They also said they doubt how easy the new tools will be to use.
For Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, there's a lot at stake this summer as it rolls out Windows 10, the first operating system designed to run on PCs, tablets and phones. If developers don't embrace the new platform, it will seriously damage the prospects of the new operating system, which Microsoft hopes will power one billion devices in two or three years.
Interviews with more than a dozen developers found just one planning to move an app from Apple or Android to Microsoft . That's King.com, which ported its popular Candy Crush Saga game from iOS to Windows 10 "with very few code modifications" and will be installed automatically with upgrades to Windows 10, according to Microsoft.
Eight developers said they aren't planning to develop for Windows 10 at all. Four who already have Windows apps said they would continue to do so.
Because Microsoft hasn't actually unveiled its new set of tools to turn apps into a Windows format, developers did not rule out any move, and a Microsoft spokesman said that "it is still early" and many software companies want to explore the tools over the coming months.
More and better apps might attract more people to buy a Windows phone or tablet, Microsoft reasons. Only six of the top 10 free apps on iPhone are available for Windows phone, and of those, two are made by Microsoft itself. In the past Microsoft has paid developers to create Windows apps. Failure to attract the apps would not be fatal for Microsoft, which is growing more reliant on its Office, server software and cloud computing services, but it would be a sign that Microsoft is losing its hold on personal computing. Because of that trend, "it's going to be hard for developers to prioritize building for Microsoft," said John Milinovich, Chief Executive of URX, a mobile ad service that creates links between apps.
Windows, closely tied to the stagnant PC market, is a big but static business for Microsoft. It's likely worth $20 billion in revenue this fiscal year, analysts say, compared with almost $30 billion for its Office business, out of total expected annual revenue of $93 billion. The company's server software and cloud-computing businesses are growing much faster, with cloud-computing revenue forecast to triple to $20 billion by 2018.
Even though only a handful of developers have been allowed a sneak preview of the new tools Microsoft says it's preparing, most doubt it will be easy to take iOS and Android apps to Windows. Concerns include how the Windows app will use batches of pre-written software, called libraries, that an app needs to run, and the prospects that Apple's new language, called Swift, may soon eclipse the current one.
For Jason Thane, general manager at General UI, a mobile app developer, the cost of developing a Windows app from another system would need to fall to about 10 percent to 20 percent of the cost of building it.
"So if Microsoft has a way for our customers to do it easily and cheaply, and if there's no serious performance or functionality impact, I think they'd have a lot of people wanting to do it," says Thane. The best experience was always going to be achieved with tools made for a given software system, said Christopher Kamsler, manager at Gannett, and even with those his team had to tweak the app to work for different sized devices.