Microsoft reportedly working on other ways besides PWAs to close Surface Phone app gap

While Steve Balmer’s is best known for his “Developers, developers, developers” refrain, Microsoft lost the confidence and support of that community many years ago, leading to a persistent chicken and egg situation of Microsoft’s new platforms failing due to not having enough apps, and no apps being developed for Microsoft’s new platforms because they are failing.

Memorable recent examples include Windows Phone and the Windows 10 Store. Microsoft’s next venture is believed to be the Andromeda OS, a version of Windows 10 for pen-based devices. Recently the arrival of Progressive Web Apps, which already has broad cross-platform support, has raised some hopes that this will soon be an issue from the past, but there is already some indication that PWAs will not be changing the world.

Now according to Zac Bowden from the WC, in an editorial designed to calm the Surface Phone faithful, Microsoft is exploring other solutions for the issue.

He writes:

It probably goes without saying that UWP is also something Microsoft is actively pushing on Andromeda, and apps like WhatsApp are a possible contender for this, but progress on the UWP front is slow, hence the focus on PWAs. Furthermore, I’m told there are other ideas that the company is also considering to help improve the app situation on Andromeda, but I’m still digging for information on that.

The most immediate solution to bring apps to a small mobile device which comes to mind is, of course, supporting Android apps on Windows, something which may now be more possible now Google’s restrictive business practices involving Android has come under intense scrutiny.

Few other solutions which are not automatically doomed to fail come to my mind. Can our readers think of any alternate solutions? Let us know your ideas below.