14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft announced at BUILD 2015 that Android apps could be tweaked to run on Windows 10 for phones with minor changes to the original code, so now one of the biggest questions that company enthusiasts have is related to Google apps on their favorite apps.
Will Google’s applications finally arrive on Windows phones? Yes and no.
First and foremost, it’s worth noting that Google isn’t quite the biggest support for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, so the Mountain View-based search company has no other app supporting these two platforms besides the search tool that nobody is using these days.
Obviously, Google has no intention of bringing its apps on Windows Phone, but with Windows 10, that would finally become possible because of the small changes to the original code we were talking about.
Will Google allow it? Probably not
So basically, with little effort, all Google apps can be tweaked to run on Windows 10 for phones. But the biggest problem is that they all require Google Play Services, so if you want to use Chrome or Google Maps on your Windows 10 phone, this set of libraries has to be ported to Windows.
Hopefully, with help from the growing Windows community, Google Play Services can arrive on Windows 10 without even Google’s approval. It already happened on BlackBerry, so Passport, Z30, Z10, and Q10 users can already install apps such as Maps even if Google didn’t release a dedicated version for their devices.
And now comes the biggest question: will Google bring Play Services to Windows 10? Probably not for the very same reason that’s behind Google’s decision to stay away from Windows Phone.
But if Windows 10 for phones grows bigger in the short term and its market share skyrockets, Google has no other option than to launch its apps on Microsoft’s platform too. Because otherwise, it would lose market share itself, and we all know how important market share is these days.
Look at iOS, for instance. Google would make its apps an Android-exclusive feature in a second if it could, but iOS grew so much that it’s mandatory to offer compatible versions to make sure that people who aren’t using its own Android platform are using them.
Even if Google refuses to bring its apps on Windows 10, there should be plenty of apps in the store that could replace it, such as alternative browsers. Mozilla will most likely port Firefox to Windows 10, so there will be life beyond Google on Windows phone.