Microsoft Lures Users with Switch to Windows Phone for Android

Microsoft is moving to step up its campaign to entice users over to Windows Phone with a new Switch to Windows Phone application for Android.

The news comes by way of Citeworld, who says the new Switch to Windows Phone application, expected today, will search the user’s Android device for installed application and store its findings on SkyDrive. Once that same SkyDrive account is logged into using the Switch to Windows Phone app for Windows Phone, the user will be presented with a list of the same applications in their Windows Phone form. If it can’t find that same application, the app will use search functions provided by Quixey to find apps that are similar.

Microsoft has made aggressive attempts to convince users to switch to Windows Phone in the past including a “Meet Your Match” advertisement targeting iPhone 5 users.

Read: “Meet Your Match” Ad Pits Windows Phone 8 Against iPhone 5 Users

According to Guru Gowrappan, executive vice president for products at Quixey, the application search firm’s technology analyzes the descriptions reviews, and metadata of each application to find a match or recommend a replacement for the user’s needs.

For example, if an Android user who had Instagram installed on their device used Switch to Windows Phone, the application would recommend the closest functioning program it could find since Instagram isn’t available on the Windows Phone 8 platform yet.

At this time there is no iPhone version of the application. It’s also unclear if the application will work on both Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 devices. Though many apps can, those built with Windows Phone 8 techniques aren’t backwards compatible. This is especially important since Windows Phone 7.8 devices are still widely available in the countries where Windows Phone is showing the most growth.

Read: Windows Phone 8X by HTC Review

In our review of the 8X by HTC, we found that although the platform’s device offerings had improved, the experience of finding applications in the platform’s application store still offered a mix of high-profile applications and applications that lacked the features available on platforms. Potential users will still want to take that into consideration before deciding to switch.