The company is hoping to win over device owners with a spectrum of Android and Apple compatible applications.
Microsoft has been releasing a range of different mobile apps that are compatible with Android and Apple iOS operating systems in order to help to draw the attention and usage of those device users.
The company has been acquiring startups to help to give its own mobile application offerings a boost.
For example, Microsoft recently purchased a tech startup from Germany called 6Wunderlkinder. Now, it is able to offer mobile apps that compete with some of the core applications that had previously been used on other operating systems. For example the Keep app on Android or the Reminders application on Apple now has competition through the Wunderlist that was created by the newly acquired company.
That is only one example of several moves that Microsoft is making in order to draw users for its mobile apps.
At the same time, the company continues to promote its own Windows operating system for mobile devices. That said, in the grand scheme of things, the number of consumers who are actually purchasing devices based on that OS are quite low compared to the number of people who are using Android and iOS based gadgets. Therefore, the company is ensuring that it will be able to appeal to a larger market by ensuring that its smartphone apps will run on the most popular platforms and not just its own.
The offerings from Microsoft include its Office programs for Android and iOS, which it created itself and released earlier in 2015. That said, it also has a calendar application called Sunrise, which was developed by a company that was purchased by the tech giant back in February. For its email application, it uses Accompli, which was the result of a purchase of another startup.
So far, the mobile apps that Microsoft has been offering – including its own and those developed by startups that it has acquired – have been receiving considerable praise from tech reviewers. It could be that the company may be starting to redefining its niche within the new device marketplace.
