At Microsofts Build developer conference in San Francisco, the company announced it would be making it very easy to get Android and iOS apps running on Windows 10.
Head of Windows Terry Myerson revealed the two new development kits are part of Microsofts big push to woo developers to its new platform, which will run across everything from its HoloLens virtual reality headset to Internet of Things devices, as well as smartphones.
On the Android side, Microsoft said developers who have created apps in C++ or Java will be able to use the vast majority of the code to bring their apps to the Windows Store while on the iOS side, developers will be able to reuse Objective C code.
We want to enable developers to leverage their current code and current skills to start building those Windows applications in the Store and to be able to extend those applications, Myerson said in an interview with The Verge.
It is unclear if the apps being ported will be available on other devices running Windows 10 such as tablets, laptops or even HoloLens.
One of the main drawbacks to the Windows Phone platform to date has been its lack of apps compared with Android and Apples App Store.
Porting
While porting apps will be much more simple, it will not be as straight forward as copying and pasting. For example, porting Android apps that use a Google API will necessitate replacing that with one created by Microsoft.
Myerson announced that one app currently in the Windows Phone store - Kings Candy Crush Saga - was ported from the companys iOS using Microsofts developer tools, adding more apps were coming from King later in 2015.
Microsoft has been struggling to get a foothold in the smartphone market in recent years but, following its purchase of Nokia, it is making a renewed push by trying to entice as many developers as possible to publish apps on its new Windows 10 platform.
Porting Android and iOS apps are just two of four ways the company announced for developers to bring their apps to the new unified Windows Store, which will sell apps across smartphones, tablets, laptops, Xbox and even for HoloLens.
Website developers will be able to take their web code and wrap that to create a Windows 10 app. The final group of apps being enveloped into the Windows 10 family will be the .Net and Win32 apps currently on the market.
