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Microsoft to push its cross-platform apps with Windows 10 phone companion

Microsoft is planning to release a phone companion app for Windows 10 that aims to promote its cross-platform apps to Android and iOS smartphone users.
By
May 27, 2015
windows 10 phone companion

Microsoft has some ambitious plans for Windows 10 and it seems that better mobile integration is going to play a big part in that vision. Along with the announcement of Cortana for Android the other day, Microsoft also gave us a preview of its upcoming phone companion app for Windows 10.

The app will act as a hub that allows users to connect their Windows 10 PC up to their smartphone, regardless of its OS. The hub encourages users to install Microsoft applications such as Music, Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook and Office. The companion app essentially helps you set-up your phone to make use of Microsoft’s apps to automatically sync your devices to the same cloud accounts for the various products. This should allow for easy sharing and management of documents, photos, music, etc, across a range of devices.

Microsoft hopes that users on different operating systems will make use of its apps and services
For Microsoft, the hope is that it can encourage users on different operating systems to make use of its apps and services, by providing an ecosystem that plays very nicely together.

The launch of numerous Microsoft apps for Android this year have been building towards this more cross-platform friendly approach with Windows 10.

Of course, this move puts Microsoft directly in competition with many of the pre-installed Google apps that ship by default on Android phones. Google Docs, Photos, and Music can already be accessed in Windows, so adoption will likely boil down to if consumers end up preferring Microsoft’s features over Google’s.

An early look at the phone companion app will be available in a few weeks as part of the Windows 10 Insider Preview. If you’re interested in beta testing, you can sign up for the program here.