14 DAY TRIAL // One of the applications that many Windows Phone 8 users have been long looking for to seeing on their devices is Google Chrome, and it seems that there’s a chance that the application might actually arrive on the platform.
Apparently, the first step on this road has already been taken, as the team in charge with the development of the mobile application has decided to investigate whether it is possible to port the app to Microsoft’s mobile operating system.
Of course, there’s no telling whether this action will end with the release of a Google Chrome version for Windows Phone, but it appears that there’s a slight chance that things will turn this way in the end.
Info on this comes from a ticket in the Chromium open source project, opened by Google engineer Carlos Pizano. A Windows Phone version of the browser is requested there, following the availability of Chrome for Windows 8.
While the request has been there since October 2012, it didn’t see activity for a long time, until two days ago, when the developer in charge with a related report to release Chrome on Windows Phone 7 passed the ownership of the project to another developer, called dxie.
This does not mean that Google actually started working on the development of Chrome for Windows Phone 8, but it does show that people in charge with the project are still looking into it.
The one thing that might actually prevent Google from releasing Chrome on Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft’s determination to allow on the platform only browsers that are based on the Internet Explorer rendering engine, PhoneArena states.
However, the Redmond-based giant might actually reconsider its approach towards this, given the fact that users are interested in seeing as many popular apps as possible loaded on their smartphones.
At the same time, as WinBeta notes, Microsoft has already released a great deal of software in the Google Play Store, so as to ensure that Android users have access to its products, and might consider allowing Google to make a similar move.
In the event that it does not agree to allow Google to use the current browser engine in a possible Chrome for Windows Phone app, chances are that the app will never be developed.
The internet giant would be forced to rebuild the browser from ground up in order to have it compliant with Microsoft’s terms, and that could prove to be too much of a hassle for the development team.