Win10 wants to be compatible with Android and iOS applications. What do you think?

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Microsoft's WP has a global share of less than 3% in the smartphone operating system market, and the industry generally believes that Microsoft has lost and is powerless to recover. Last month, Microsoft surprisingly announced that it would provide tools for developers to port their iOS and Android software to the mobile version of Windows 10.

However, according to foreign media reports, the Windows system has a very poor market share and cannot arouse the interest of developers. The attitude of most developers towards Microsoft's porting plan is - no interest.

Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's mobile phone business had a negative impact on WP's market share: as more smartphone manufacturers abandoned WP, ​​the number of WP phones continued to decrease, and its market share continued to decline, rather than boosting its share as Ballmer had imagined. In the Chinese market, WP's market share is only 1%, which has been completely marginalized.

The mobile operating system market is showing a Matthew effect. According to authoritative data from the US market research company IDC, Google's Android currently occupies 81% of the market share, Apple's iOS occupies 15%, and the sum of the two is 96%. Basically, other systems are forced out of the market.

Last month, Microsoft announced that it would provide special tools for Android and iOS software developers to port codes so that Android and iOS mobile software can run on the mobile version of Windows 10.

Public opinion believes that Microsoft's move, like BlackBerry's previous announcement of compatibility with Android software, has actually acknowledged that Windows has failed in the competition in the smartphone application ecosystem. Microsoft hopes to seek help from Android and iOS, which have a monopoly on the market, to save its Windows 10 plan.

Reuters reported that because the number of users of WP (which will be upgraded to Windows 10 in the future) smartphones is too small, Android and iOS developers do not see the need to port their software.

These developers also expressed doubts about the ease of use of the code porting tools provided by Microsoft.

Sean-Orelli, a director at FuzzProductions, a US mobile software development company that develops mobile software for companies such as Citibank and the New York Post, said that Windows must gain substantial market share before mobile software developers will feel that porting software is a time-saving and cost-effective move.

Facing the defeat in the mobile phone market, Microsoft unilaterally hopes that the new Windows 10 system can save the situation. However, from the current point of view, the mobile version of Windows 10 has not seen any major innovation and upgrades compared with the old system. If third-party Android and iOS software developers have no interest in Windows 10, this will be the biggest crisis for Microsoft in the mobile ecosystem.

Among the more than ten mobile software developers interviewed by the media, only one company expressed its willingness to port its software to Windows 10. This is the well-known mobile game developer King (developer of Candy Crush Saga).

According to Microsoft, King made a simple modification to the code and ported "Candy Crush Saga" to Windows 10.

Eight developers or developers interviewed said they had no plans to port their mobile software to Windows 10. In addition, four developers who have already developed WP software said they would continue to maintain the software under the Windows 10 platform.

Regarding software migration, Microsoft has only announced the plan, and the migration tool has not yet been released. Microsoft said that the migration plan is still in the early stages and some software companies will use the migration tool in the next few months.

The failure of Windows in the mobile operating system market is mainly due to the lack of application software, in addition to the fact that only Microsoft company actually mass-produces Windows smartphones and consumers are seriously lacking options.

According to statistics, of the ten most downloaded free apps on iPhones, Windows phone users can only use six, and two of them are developed by Microsoft itself. Previously, Microsoft had rewarded developers heavily, hoping that they could develop software for Windows phones.

There are nearly one million apps in the Android and iOS app stores. In comparison, the number of apps for Windows phones is only a fraction of that.

In markets such as China, due to the lack of WP applications and the fact that developers have not updated the WP client for a long time, WP users have collectively protested against developers on social networks. However, such protests have also been questioned by netizens - why do they have to buy WP phones with such a small market share?

For Microsoft, the fact that Android and iOS software developers are not interested in entering Windows 10 will not be a fatal blow. As we all know, Microsoft's most important cash cows are still office software Office, enterprise server-side application software and cloud computing services.

However, this move will cast a shadow on Microsoft's future and prospects.

Today we have entered the post-PC era, with smartphones replacing personal computers as the most important personal Internet access and information processing tool. However, Microsoft, which once controlled the personal computer application software ecosystem, is now watching Google and Apple monopolize the mobile software market.

In fact, the huge success of Microsoft Windows in personal computers is due to the massive number of computer application software developers around the world. Under the "bundling" of various application software, it is difficult for computer users to migrate to niche platforms such as Linux or Apple, which has led to Windows becoming almost synonymous with computer operating systems.

In the era of smartphones, Google's Android has successfully replicated the miracle of Windows. The openness and freedom of Android have attracted a large number of developers from all over the world to launch Android software. The richness of the software has further increased the market share of the Android system, which has now accounted for nearly 90% of the market share.

In this regard, John-Milinovich, CEO of mobile advertising company URX, said that given the marginalization of Windows in the mobile ecosystem market, it is difficult for third-party developers to list Windows as a priority development platform.

Some industry insiders have pointed out that Microsoft’s defeat in the mobile operating system market is irreversible. Instead of endlessly struggling, it is better to give up completely as soon as possible and learn from Google’s enlightened approach in the iOS ecosystem - that is, no matter whether the user uses Android or iOS, or which company’s phone they use, what Microsoft needs is to allow them to continue using Microsoft’s mobile applications and cloud services.