Official Instagram Windows Phone app arriving in the ‘coming weeks’
Windows Phone is finally getting an official Instagram client. After months of pressure from Nokia, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom confirmed today that an official client will be made available to Windows Phone users shortly.
Context & Ripple Effects
Nokia spent March publicly pressing Instagram to support Windows Phone through its #2InstaWithLove campaign. The confirmation converts that campaign from an app-gap complaint into a concrete commitment from Instagram.
Windows Phone had secured an official Twitter client in 2010, but Nokia’s push shows that landing major social services remained a product and ecosystem priority three years later.
First-order effects
- Windows Phone users are set to gain an Instagram client from Instagram itself, rather than relying on the platform’s lack of official support.
- Nokia gains a visible answer to a compatibility gap it had made central to its public pressure campaign.
Second-order effects
- Instagram takes on the need to serve a further mobile platform, while Windows Phone can present a major social-sharing service as part of its app offering.
- Nokia can more credibly pair Lumia camera features with access to Instagram’s community of more than 150 million users.
Third-order effects
- The episode points to a mobile-platform market in which access to prominent official apps, not merely handset features, determines how usable a platform feels to prospective buyers.
- If device makers continue to campaign publicly for missing services, major app providers gain added leverage over platform makers seeking ecosystem credibility.
The trend: Mobile platforms are competing for usable app ecosystems, with official support from major social services becoming a strategic requirement for handset partners.