The folks over at the Roku development division have offered Windows users a bit of insight into its app development strategy for the platform, and its answer comes as a bit of shock to some. Yesterday, Roku released a Windows 10 app developed specifically for the PC, with no mention of a phone or Xbox equivalent planned.
The news was received with a variety of reactions specifically due to no mention of a Windows 10 Mobile equivalent scheduled for development at the time of the announcement. With as much engineering muscle as Microsoft has managed to put behind its UWP platform for developers, some have nevertheless avoided Windows 10 Mobile development due to a perceived lack of return on investment.
However, Roku’s lack of Windows 10 Mobile-specific development doesn’t mean the service is ignoring its Windows phone users entirely. While the Roku development team has confirmed in a statement to Neowin that app development for Windows 10 Mobile is not currently underway and it doesn’t appear to be planned anytime soon, Rock will nevertheless continue to support the apps already built for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Phone.
That means that Windows phone users will still be able to download and use an app, albeit older and perhaps less functional than its counterparts on other platforms. The folks over at Neowin are speculating on the possibility of an app hitting mobile or the Xbox One sometime in the future, due to the Roku’s claims that the current Windows 10 app has been built as a Windows 10 Universal Platform app.
Time will tell, and we’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, let us know in the comments what you think about this development.
