There’s a growing number of decent apps showing up in the Windows Phone Marketplace, but there are still tens of thousands (or possibly hundreds of thousands) more apps for Android and iOS than for Windows Phone 7. Now Microsoft has come up with a tool which could help level the playing field, by making it easy for developers to port iOS apps to run on WP7.
The iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool isn’t a one-click solution. But it does make the process of porting apps a lot simpler by helping developers figure out how to translate key portions of code from an iOS app into something that will run on Windows Phone 7.
Microsoft has also put together a 90 page white paper to help iOS developers learn their way around Windows Phone 7.
via ReadWriteWeb
Of course, making it easier for successful iOS developers to bring their apps ti Windows Phone 7 is only part of the challenge. Microsoft also has to convince developers they want to port their apps — and until there are more WP7 devices in the hands of consumers, that may be a tough thing to do.