Last week, it was rumored that Microsoft was planning to release a “Switch to Windows Phone” application in the Google Play store that would help Android users in their move over to the new platform. The Switch to Windows Phone app finally went live, and although it doesn't offer data migration, it is intended to convince users that the apps they've grown to love on their Android handsets exist on the Windows Phone platform, too.
Microsoft says the application is intended to “make your switch to Windows Phone as quick and easy as possible.” The app scans through the applications you have installed on your phone and finds the Windows Phone equivalents. When it’s finished, you can save the results and sync them up with your Microsoft account information. And that’s about it.
To reap the benefits of the application, you’ll have to actually go out and purchase a Windows Phone device so you can download the apps that Microsoft finds for you. Not all of the applications are one-to-one matches, however. Though we weren't able to actually load the apps that Microsoft chose onto a Windows Phone 8 handset, The Verge found that the app offers similar suggestions for apps that aren't in the Windows Marketplace. For example, it suggested that a user replace the iOS and Android-based Mint app with Pageonce, a budgeting app that can be found on all three platforms.
Perhaps the most telling thing about the application is the reaction it has seen in the comments on the Google Play store. A number of the 381 one-star reviews express that the app is “a bait-and-switch. If I were seriously considering getting a Windoes 8 Phone [sic], I’d be interesting [sic] in knowing exactly whether the developer has the app on WP8.” Others are a little harsher, comparing the intentions behind the application to that of a used car salesperson. “You know how when you go to a car dealership and you know which car you want to buy and then the slick car salesman quickly realizes that he doesn't have the car you want, so he pushes you to a car that you don't want? That's exactly what this app does.”
Regardless, the app does help alleviate some of the strain of switching mobile platforms by finding applications that perform some of the same functionality. Unfortunately, this may not have been the right application to encourage Android users to take the plunge.
