Windows Phone Apps Could Run On Windows 8

There could be some good news for Windows Phone developers that are frustrated with the platform's current penetration of less than 2% of the smartphone market. Windows Phone apps may be able to run on Windows 8, which would mean that the time spent on developing apps for the meager platform hasn't gone to waste. Instead, the same apps may suddenly find a whole new market with the most popular computing platform in the world.

Microsoft has been hinting that its tablets, phones, PCs, and TVs would eventually run on one single platform for a unified and streamlined ecosystem. Back in July, during the WPC event, Microsoft exec Andy Lees had further emphasized this vision, which led to predictions that the convergence could happen as soon as 2015—right at the junction where the Xbox 360's 10-year life cycle and the Windows 8 3-year life cycle meetup for a full revamp.

And now in an interview with CNET, chipmaker NVIDIA's CEO seems to further confirm this development, saying that he believes that Windows Phone apps will run on Windows 8. NVIDIA is a huge supplier of ARM-based processors for both smartphones and tablets, second only to Qualcomm, while Windows 8 will be the first Microsoft desktop operating system to support ARM.

But for more official details on Windows 8, we'll have to wait until Microsoft's Build developer conference later this month, where it's expected that the company will do a more in-depth preview of the next-gen platform and possibly giveaway compatible hardware to attending developers.

[via Business Insider]