Computing firm plans to attract mobile developers with cross-platform options
Microsoft is considering an HTML5 development solution for the Xbox One that would also make it easier for the company to attract developers to its Windows Phone platform.
Yesterday the company purchased Nokia's Devices and Services division – once the world leader in mobile phone sales – for £4.6 billion, and recently announced it was lowering the annual fee for Windows Phone development.
Taken together these moves reveal a company that is dead-set on becoming a major rival to Apple and Google in the mobile phone sector.
In a conference call with investors, Microsoft's EVP of operating systems Terry Myerson said making HTML5 available to developers across all the company's platforms was a big part of its plans.
"We want to offer the opportunity to build either HTML5 applications, or native applications that span all of those devices, enabling them to reach segments of users on those devices, users on a gaming console, and provide them with very unique opportunities to monetize their application investments," said Myerson.