As we all know by now, Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) is looking to evolve its PC business by focusing more on software and cloud services, and has shelved its webOS platform. Microsoft, looking to capitalize on this, has offered free Windows Phones and dev tools to webOS devs. Now, Microsoft receives over 500 responses the company’s recruitment attempts.
Microsoft, looking to capitalize on HP’s decision to shelve its webOS platform, offered free Windows Phones, dev tools, and training to published webOS developers. Brandon Watson, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Windows Phone 7 Development, tweeted:
In a follow up tweet, Brandon Watson stated that he has over “500 emails in just the last 22 hours.”
Watson eventually sent an email to the developers and stated, “First things first. Thank you so much for reaching out to the Windows Phone team to signal your interest in bringing your talents to our platform. To be honest, we didn’t expect this level of response, so we were caught a bit flatfooted. It took a few days (on the weekend) to pull all the mails together into one place to allow me to respond in a smart way and not retype every mail by hand. Consider this a first step in building a relationship with the Windows Phone team. We are psyched to have you aboard and to see what your imagination can do on the Windows Phone canvas.”
HP recently shelved its webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones, to continue to “explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.” HP further explained that their webOS devices had not gained enough traction in the marketplace with consumers. “Continuing to execute our current device approach in this space is no longer in the interest of HP or its shareholders,” HP stated.
Further reading: Microsoft, Windows Phone 7
