Instagram is one of the most popular apps on the iPhone. The photo-sharing service, which lets users snap pictures and spruce them up with one-click filters, has rocketed to 15 million users, and was recently named iPhone app of the year by Apple.
Android users have been clamoring to get their hands on the service–and cofounder and CEO Kevin Systrom has promised that the app is indeed coming to Google’s OS.
But is there a chance it might arrive around the same time–or even earlier–on Windows Phone 7?
A source recently left the impression that the Windows Phone team has possibly been working with the folks from Instagram. Why would Instagram come to an OS with such a low market share? Mainly because it’s sexy. And there’s a ton of money behind it.
Windows 7 offers a beautiful user interface, and not just any device maker can slap it on their hardware. “The old Windows Mobile effort suffered from the fact that any hardware vendor could choose to be as high-end or as low-end as they wanted,” Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, who oversees software design for Windows Phone, said recently. Under Windows Phone 7’s new design approach, however, devices have to live up to certain standards. And that works for Instagram, too, which doesn’t want to deal with slow hardware or cheap cameras. Also, designing an app for Windows Phone 7 means Instagram wouldn’t be dealing with the fragmentation that comes with dozens of models of Android smartphones.
Instagram cofounder and CEO Kevin Systrom was tight-lipped about a potential pairing with Windows Phone 7. “Other than having pre-announced Android, we don’t comment on roadmap stuff,” he wrote to Fast Company via email.
