Will universal apps really help Microsoft take on Android and iOS?

Microsoft can’t just emulate Android and iOS if it hopes to take on the mobile operating system duopoly, it needs to do something innovative and radical, something that the two markets leaders haven’t done. For this, the company is relying on its universal app platform which makes it so that every app will work across all versions of Windows 10, desktop or mobile. Microsoft is relying quite heavily on this feature and it may very well prove effective. Only time will tell I suppose. 

If Windows 10 is key to Microsoft’s effort to succeed in mobile, then the universal app platform is the technology that could make that happen. It promises to bring developers the cross-device nirvana they have long sought from Microsoft, but there are still challenges before Windows 10 can make headway against Android and iOS. The universal app platform aims to let developers build one application that will work on PCs, tablets, smartphones, even the Xbox. It’s not a new concept for Microsoft, but the company insists that this time around it has got it right. “The platform enables a new class of Windows universal apps—apps that are truly written once, with one set of business logic and one UI,” said Kevin Gallo, Microsoft’s technical lead for the Windows Developer Platform, in a blog post this week. It’s a big promise, one that Microsoft will need to fulfill if it’s to make headway in the important mobile market. According to a recent report from IDC, Windows Phone’s share of the worldwide smartphone OS market fell to a paltry 2.7 percent last year, from 3.3 percent in 2013.