Microsoft to tempt Android users with app alternatives

Windows Phone
An upcoming Android app by Microsoft will help you ease into a shiny new Lumia

A new app to be released on the Google Play Store is aimed at those looking to switch from Android to Windows Phone, and you'll never believe who is behind it.

Microsoft has worked with developer Quixley on the Android app, which offers Windows Phone alternatives for all the apps you have installed on your Android device. Where it can't assure you that the same app exist on the Windows Phone ecosystem, it will find one with similar features.

Called Switch to Windows Phone, the app shows all the available alternatives, then saves a list to the user's SkyDrive account. When you then sign in on a Windows Phone device, the list is retrieved and the apps are downloaded to the new phone.

This may all sound like sneaky smartphone subterfuge, but from a user perspective, this sounds like one very handy tool.

Smoked by Windows Phone

You'll remember that this isn't Microsoft's first attempt at luring Android users over to its phone system. In the US, Microsoft ran the "Smoked by Windows Phones" campaign last year. In these videos, average Joes were accosted by Microsoft evangelist Ben Rudolph and tasked with performing everyday phone duties faster on an Android (or iPhone) then Ben could on a Windows Phone.

In May 2012, Rudolph posted to the Windows Phone blog that over 50,000 phones had been "smoked" between CES and the blog post, with a 98% success to the Microsoft team.

Market share stats tell a different story though, with the latest numbers revealing Android holds about 60 percent of the smartphone OS market, while Windows Phone holds about 5 percent -- with these figures varying slightly in different regions around the world.

Via NeoWin