Microsoft is doing a BlackBerry to save Windows Phone.
When I phrase it that way, it doesn't sound like a good idea, does it? But after five years of failing to set the market on fire, Microsoft is facing up to the fact that many app developers just don't have the resources to focus on more than two platforms, if that.
BlackBerry faced up to this a few years ago. First it let Android developers wrap their apps for submission to BlackBerry's store. Then it realized even that was too high a barrier and just started including the Amazon Appstore on its devices. That hasn't catapulted BlackBerry to glorious heights, but one could argue it's part of what has kept the platform alive, at least.
Even two platforms has been too much for some developers. Many apps come to iOS first because, as a recent Digi-Capital study showed, one iOS user is worth 2.5 Android users to a developer. Recently there was a huge buzz around two livestreaming apps, Meerkat and Periscope. Both have been out on iOS for a while now. Neither have a final Android app, although Meerkat has a beta. It's just about prioritizing developer time.
(And before you say it: I'm an Android user most of the time, so I find this really frustrating.)
So today, at the Build conference, Microsoft is showing how iOS and Android apps can be easily recompiled for or run on its platform, although they will still have to be submitted to Microsoft's store. That makes me a little bit sad, because one of the appealing aspects of Microsoft's OS was its bold, unique graphic design, where you swipe between panels rather than pop down menus.
The Danger of Porting
One thing I noticed when Android ports started to appear on BlackBerry was that they weren't perfectly adapted to BlackBerry's UI. A flood of direct Android and iOS ports may have the same problem on Windows Phone: you'll end up having a phone whith one UI across the "native" apps and a dramatically different second UI in third-party apps. That isn't great, and Microsoft needs to address it.
The real, painful question here is whether a third mobile platform is at all viable. It's hard to unravel that question from Microsoft's string of embarrassing failures at producing and selling high-end hardware in the U.S. over the past year. The success of the Lumia 635 shows that there's definitely a demand for a third platform at the low end. Carriers have also said they'd like to see a counterweight to Apple and Android, although the carriers need to actually put their money where their mouth is and not do things like AT&T's pricing sabotage of the Lumia 830.
So yeah, how about those phones, Microsoft?