Microsoft [MSFT] is trying to play catchup due to companies such as Apple [AAPL] releasing the iPhone and Google [GOOG] releasing Android. Their current Windows Mobile 6.X just doesn’t cut it these days.
To shift things up a gear, Microsoft are in the process of creating Windows Phone 7 and surprisingly, it actually looks good. The OS hasn’t launched yet, but will be doing towards the end of this year.
To try catch back up to Apple, Microsoft is looking at throwing cash towards popular iPhone app developers and offering them that cash to port their popular iPhone OS (or iOS as it’s now called) games over to the Windows Phone 7 platform.
One developer has told PocketGamer.biz that Microsoft is contacting successful iPhone developers, offering them upfront cash to port their games to the new platform.
No actual numbers have been quoted in terms of how much cash other than a general idea of the developer interviewed saying the amount was substantial. One of the reasons this developer said no could be to do with the high cost of development and switching over to the C#, Silverlight or XNA framework.
We also hear that changes to the development environment could be made to allow C++ ports to be easier. If that happens then this particular developer might say yes. It is unclear if other developers have been contacted and if so, we also don’t know if they agreed or declined the substantial amount of money.
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.