[jaqueh]

Google has 'no plans to build out Windows apps,' according to product manager | The Verge

Hopefully M$ can step up their act and get login information to be saved on IE!

[vedichymn]

Sadly, nothing really new here, this has been Google's stance on Windows Phone since it launched.

[ttsoldier]

Bavor had some harsh words about the installed base for Windows on both the PC and on mobile, saying "we are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8.

This would be the stance of most developers. Where the people go, the App developers will follow.

However, it's a rough circle.. The users won't go to WP8 because of no apps... The Developers wont make WP8 Apps because there are no users...

So... Who takes the lunge???

[jhguth]

meh, don't care. IE is great.

[Slai]

Perhaps Dolphin would make the plunge. Or Opera, they always make browsers, they even made one for the N900 for christs sake. Not for any other reason than that they all had N900s at the office.

[Laura Knotek]

Perhaps Dolphin would make the plunge. Or Opera, they always make browsers, they even made one for the N900 for christs sake. Not for any other reason than that they all had N900s at the office.

Opera also made a browser for Windows Mobile devices.

[jdevenberg]

Has Microsoft changed its policy of no alternate browsers that aren't simply skins on top of the included IE browser? If not, it doesn't matter if google, dolphin, or anyone else wants to make a browser for Windows Phone, they can't.

[Bundalings]

Has Microsoft changed its policy of no alternate browsers that aren't simply skins on top of the included IE browser? If not, it doesn't matter if google, dolphin, or anyone else wants to make a browser for Windows Phone, they can't.

I believe all browsers on IOS are Safari reskins and there are Chrome and Dolphin apps over there.

[lcw731]

If you want google apps that bad, then you probably should stayed with android.

[independentvolume]

If you want google apps that bad, then you probably should stayed with android.

Meh, missing a few apps is better than dealing with that clusterf^&8 called android. Some want to eat the cake, and then eat more cake.

[lcw731]

I switched from Sprint becasue I didnt want Android or i(diot)Phone... so glad I got away from my Blackberry. I loved it for a long time, but when the updates stopped and the delays started, I just got tired of waiting for what I'm sure is going to be an inferior prduct to hit the market. Not to mention 2 years is a long time to make duewith a phone designed to boe obsolete and ready for the recycle bin after 6 months.

[jaqueh]

I switched from Sprint becasue I didnt want Android or i(diot)Phone... so glad I got away from my Blackberry. I loved it for a long time, but when the updates stopped and the delays started, I just got tired of waiting for what I'm sure is going to be an inferior prduct to hit the market. Not to mention 2 years is a long time to make duewith a phone designed to boe obsolete and ready for the recycle bin after 6 months.

This was a bit confusing. Are you saying that whatever phone you have now (I don't even know if it's a WP) will be obsolete in 2 years?

[brmiller1976]

Microsoft doesn't block alternative browsers. Not sure where that rumor got started.

Chrome WOULD be blocked, since it would fail Microsoft's malware checks -- specifically, it scrapes user data and reports it to advertisers via Google, a clear violation of the TOS for Windows Phone.

I'm not sure why so many people want spyware on their phones...

[stmav]

Don't want chrome on my computer. Sure don't want it on my phone.

[Myleslinklater]

Microsoft isn't giving alternative browsers full API access in Windows RT.

[brmiller1976]

Sure it is. Any browser can access the full "Metro" API in Windows RT.

The complaint is that Mozilla and Google cannot be lazy and release a "desktop" browser for RT -- but that's not possible through the Windows Store, and non-store installations violate the security rules.

Mozilla and Google are free to develop a Windows RT browser -- they just have to develop a Windows RT browser, not a quick, cheap port of a Windows 7 one.

[PG2G]

Sure it is. Any browser can access the full "Metro" API in Windows RT.

The complaint is that Mozilla and Google cannot be lazy and release a "desktop" browser for RT -- but that's not possible through the Windows Store, and non-store installations violate the security rules.

Mozilla and Google are free to develop a Windows RT browser -- they just have to develop a Windows RT browser, not a quick, cheap port of a Windows 7 one.

That's not entirely true. Even if they built a Windows RT browser, it would be unable to compete with the native browser in terms of capabilities and performance due to limitations in the WinRT API and the security model.

[AngryNil]

We are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8

Oh, Google. How do you train your employees to publicly announce such bullcrap without a second thought? If you only invested where the users are, you'd kill your failure of a social network called Orkut, which has been around for eight years and has fewer users than Windows 8, which hasn't been around for eight weeks.

[snakebitten]

Bavor had some harsh words about the installed base for Windows on both the PC and on mobile, saying "we are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8.

This would be the stance of most developers. Where the people go, the App developers will follow.

However, it's a rough circle.. The users won't go to WP8 because of no apps... The Developers wont make WP8 Apps because there are no users...

So... Who takes the lunge???

Microsoft is a software company. They have developers. Couldn't they develop whatever apps they figure are in demand most?

[socialcarpet]

I don't care as long as we get some kind of WebKit browser. Firefox would be just fine, and Microsoft needs to allow us to change the default browser. IE10 is okay, but the problem is most websites, especially mobile ones, are designed for WebKit. That's not going to change anytime soon. So unless you like getting the 1990s mobile phone version of some websites and having features like drop down menus broken on other sites, then you'll hope we get a REAL alternative browser choice soon too.

[Superhyper]

Sure it is. Any browser can access the full "Metro" API in Windows RT.

The complaint is that Mozilla and Google cannot be lazy and release a "desktop" browser for RT -- but that's not possible through the Windows Store, and non-store installations violate the security rules.

Mozilla and Google are free to develop a Windows RT browser -- they just have to develop a Windows RT browser, not a quick, cheap port of a Windows 7 one.

Not true, Microsoft is blocking the necessary system access levels for JIT (Just in Time) javascript compilers, as well as a few other important features for a modern browser. It will be interesting to see what the EU antitrust folks say about that when their investigation is complete.

[brmiller1976]

That's not entirely true. Even if they built a Windows RT browser, it would be unable to compete with the native browser in terms of capabilities and performance due to limitations in the WinRT API and the security model.

I've seen no credible citation of this other than Google and Mozilla's complaints that Microsoft won't let them ship a lazy recompile of their existing browsers.

[erzhik]

Aren't Mozilla making a W8 browser that would work in "metro" UI and not desktop? As far as alternative browser for WP, I couldn't care less. Love IE.

[PG2G]

For what its worth, Opera said they begin porting their browser to WP8 as soon as the SDK became available. Maybe someone should follow up

[EliteMikes]

With native code access now, a 3rd party browser is more than possible.