What app problem? Microsoft is developing a service to migrate all your Android apps to a new Windows Phone
According to a patent application filed in November 2010, Microsoft is working on a service that would let you migrate apps and app data between devices and even between different mobile operating systems.
Context & Ripple Effects
The patent application, filed in November 2010, extends a strategy Microsoft had already begun on the developer side: an April 2011 tool aimed at helping developers migrate iPhone applications to Windows Phone. This one is user-facing instead — apps and app data moving with the customer between devices and even operating systems.
It matters because of where Microsoft sits in mobile. Forrester's May 2012 analysis put Google and Apple as the leading underlying technology providers for app developers, with Microsoft among firms trying to claw out of 'everyone else' — meaning Windows Phone's core problem is catalog depth, and the pickup across WMPoweruser, Neowin, Pocketnow and Pocketables shows how closely the community is watching any answer to it.
First-order effects
- Windows Phone buyers who already own Android devices would gain a sanctioned path to carry their apps and app data across, directly attacking the 'my apps won't come with me' objection at the point of sale.
Second-order effects
- If migration lowers switching costs, Google loses some of Android's lock-in value while carriers and OEMs pushing Windows Phones get a concrete switcher pitch beyond hardware pricing — and developers face softer demand to rebuild native ports quickly.
Third-order effects
- Platform competition shifts from exclusive catalogs toward interoperability itself: whoever controls cloud-mediated migration of apps and data becomes the toll-taker between ecosystems, which is why Microsoft patented the mechanism rather than just shipping a utility.
The trend: Mobile platform rivalry is moving from recruiting developers one port at a time toward lowering user switching costs through migration and compatibility services.