By Stephen Schenck | December 13, 2012 1:14 PM
Android may be Google’s home turf, but as we can plainly see, spelled-out most recently in last night’s release of the eagerly-awaited Google Maps for iOS, Google’s got no fundamental issue with spending time and money developing software for competing platforms. Where, then, are the Google apps for Windows Phone? Google’s Clay Bavor, Product Management Director for Google Apps, recently talked a little bit about the situation in an interview, and while his explanation may be logical, Windows Phone fans still might not like to hear what he has to say.
According to Bavor, there simply aren’t enough people using Windows Phone to justify allocating Google’s resources on developing apps for the platform. Bavor explains, “we are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8.”
That doesn’t really sound that malicious, but it still calls attention to one of the uncomfortable truths about Windows Phone: despite some great hardware and compelling software, the numbers just aren’t there. From what Bavor is saying, at least, we might have a shot at seeing some full-fledged Google WP8 apps in the future if Microsoft is able to build-up its user base to size where Windows development would become worth Google’s time, but for the time being, it sounds like WP8 users will be accessing Google through web interfaces and unofficial third-party apps.
