A patent application un-earthed by Unwired View suggests
that Microsoft is working on a service that will aid the process of moving from
one mobile platform to the other.
Filed in November 2010, this patent
application for app migration service aims to solve one of the biggest problems
faced by the consumers while migrating between smart-devices with different
operating systems like Android to Windows Phone.
According to the patent application,
this service will have multiple layers of functionality. First it will analyse
the apps installed on the old device (say Android), followed by searching them
in the Windows Marketplace. The service will then list out suggested apps that
are a direct match, allowing the consumers to install them with a single tap.
The service will also suggest highest rated approximate matches, or similar
apps, in case there are no corresponding apps in the Windows Marketplace.
This is not all, if there are no apps
in Marketplace corresponding to consumers' installs on Android device then the
service will make a note of it and will notify in the future if similar apps
pop up. Microsoft is imagining that this service will also be able to transfer
app data between devices but that seems far-fetched as there might be
permission issues. Consumers will have to give access to their entire phone
in-order for this service to work, which might make raise some privacy
concerns.
Even without the app-data transfer
available to consumers, it still sounds like a reasonable service for
prospective consumers if it ever sees the light of day.