Microsoft enables Apple iOS app porting to Windows Phone7

In a bid to encourage iOS developers to create apps for the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) platform, Microsoft has released a tool allowing them to port their creations to WP7. Microsoft's interoperability technical evangelist Jean-Christophe Cimetiere said that the learning curve for iOS developers is not as steep as they may think. "With this tool, iPhone developers can grab their apps, pick out the iOS API calls, and quickly look up the equivalent classes, methods and notification events in WP7. A developer can search a given iOS API call and find the equivalent WP7 along with C# sample codes and API documentations for both platforms," he said in a blog post. Android tools underway "And before you ask, yes we are planning to provide similar guidance and tools for Android," he added. Presently, iOS and Android are considered among the most popular smartphone operating systems. Cimetiere said that, while jumping from one platform or language to another can bring changes, such changes are "very stimulating" and can expand opportunities. The tool, available at http://windowsphone.interoperabilitybridges.com/, consists of:

• A new iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool;
• A 90-plus-page “Windows Phone 7 Guide for iPhone Application Developers" white paper, organized in 8 chapters, and growing;
• A series of “developer stories" in which developers share on video their experience porting iPhone applications to Windows Phone and explain why and how they did it.

Cimetiere likened the API mapping tool to a translation dictionary. He added the code samples allow developers to quickly migrate short blobs of iOS code to the equivalent C# code. All WP7 API documentations are pulled in from the Silverlight, C# and XNA sources on MSDN, he said. Limited mapping for now Cimetiere said the mapping tool initially mapped three iOS categories - Network/Internet, User Interface and Data Management - to Windows Phone 7 API. "For this first round we focused on identifying the one-to-one mapping when it exists. In the following versions we’ll expand the scope and anytime the concepts are similar enough, we’ll do our best to provide the appropriate guidance," he said. He said the next stages will see expanded coverage, with more iOS APIs being mapped soon. Developers can also suggest new mapping APIs to include at http://wp7mapping.uservoice.com, he said. — TJD, GMA News