Microsoft Aims to Borrow from iPhone App Market

While the number of apps available on Windows Phone 7 is steadily increasing it seems that Microsoft isn't yet happy with the numbers. According to The Windows Phone Developer Blog there is now a tool that will help developers of iPhone apps create versions for WP7.

With the iPhone's more than 350,000 apps porting just a handful of the most popular apps would increase both sales and interest in the Microsoft mobile platform. Currently Windows Phone 7 has more than 12,000 apps, but is way behind iPhone and Android devices, which cracked 100,000 apps more than 6 months ago.

As reported by The Register, there are still some limitations to the mapping tool, but those may be addressed in the near future. In the meantime it allows the developers of certain iPhone apps the ability to port those to WP7, making it a sweet deal for both developers and Microsoft alike.

Just last week we mentioned that there was some waning interest among Windows Phone 7 developers but this might help give developers the incentive they need to boost the number of apps available on Marketplace.

A similar tool for porting Android apps is supposedly in the works.