Zite News App Moves To Windows Phone

It was a bit of a rough day for Microsoft and even Nokia following the earnings announcements from Thursday, but Zite CEO Mark Johnson is a huge fan of both companies and thinks it was time to bring the popular news app over to Windows Phone. The Zite team was able to receive support from Microsoft and Nokia to get the technical training they needed along with code and design clinics to help with the development.

Johnson said that the goal was to eventually have Zite on every mobile platform, so the move toward developing an app for Windows Phone was the next logical step. He said that working with the app guidelines provided by Microsoft was a great advantage due to the simplicity. Along with the less crowded marketplace for Windows Phone, which Johnson sees as a good thing, he said that Zite app can also benefit from an easier interface that doesn't feature the multiple windows like iOS or Android does.

"I'm really excited to get in front of the news market because when we launch we will have the best news-reading application on Windows Phone," Johnson said.

Although the user base is just a fraction of what iOS and Android have, Windows Phone did capture 1.9 percent of the market and should be steadily on track to gaining 11 to 13 percent by the year 2016, according to analyst research firm Gartner. Still, it's pretty obvious that Windows Phone has a lot of catching up to do.

[via CNET]