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Microsoft woos WebOS developers


Developers of WebOS —the platform used in HP's recently discontinued tablet devices— are finding themselves being wooed by Microsoft to work for its own Windows Phone platform. Microsoft's Brandon Watson, who manages developers and apps on Windows Phone, has offered the developers free phones, tools and training. "To Any Published WebOS Devs: We'll give you what you need to be successful on #WindowsPhone, (including) free phones, dev tools, and training, etc.," he said in a Twitter message. In subsequent Twitter posts, he said he can get the developers connected to local "mobile champs" in their areas. Watson also defended the offer, saying lives had been impacted because Hewlett-Packard abandoned the WebOS platform. "This isn't a case of unfortunate downtime. They abandoned the platform. Lives are impacted. We offer an alternative," he said in reply to a tweet criticizing Microsoft for attacking a competitor on its deathbed. Microsoft recently released the latest version of its Windows Phone 7, codename Mango. Mango adds features such as multitasking and cloud integration to what has so far been a fairly moribund platform, tech site Mashable reported. It added Windows Phone may be among the least popular smartphone platforms at the moment, but analysts expect that to change in short order. Mashable cited a recent prediction from Gartner showing WP7 will double its market share in 2012 to 10 percent, and hit 20 percent by 2015. "If those numbers are for real, app developers who get in early could be looking at a gold rush as new users pour in. And Microsoft, flush with cash and desperate for attention in the mobile space, is hardly likely to abandon the platform any time soon. That will come as a comfort to anyone currently feeling burned by HP," it added. — TJD, GMA News

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