Microsoft already has its own wearable device, the Microsoft Band, out on the market. But it seems that the company will still support the Apple Watch, Apple's first ever attempt at making a smartwatch.
Microsoft recently deployed an update to its OneDrive app for the iOS platform. With this update, Microsoft's cloud storage service app now lets owners of the Apple Watch see the images they saved in OneDrive directly on their wrists through Apple's wearable device.
This latest development makes the OneDrive app the first app released by Microsoft for the iOS platform to support the Apple Watch. Not only can the newly enhanced mobile app allow users to view their most recent photos, it also lets them delete unwanted images, view photos by album, and even search for images by tag, and all of these can be done via the Apple Watch's small screen.
But wait -- will people really browse photos from their wrist? Nobody knows for sure, well at least for now. But that has not stopped app makers from deploying support for Apple Watch on their respective photo apps. Instagram is a prime example -- the photo sharing service is releasing its new app for the Apple Watch, which is remarkable because this marks the first time the social media company has rolled out support for any wearable device.
Well, if others are doing it, why not Microsoft? Although Microsoft and Apple have been heated rivals in the past, Microsoft's strategy now (especially under the helm of CEO Satya Nadella) is to release versions of its most popular products and services that can work on other platforms apart from Windows, like Android and iOS. The tech giant has certainly stuck to its strategy, debuting Office for iOS in 2014, plus Outlook for iOS and even Android. To date, the company already has more than a hundred mobile apps for both iOS and Android.
And now with Apple Watch support, Microsoft is truly making good on its new mission to be a cross-platform mobile player in the industry. In a field where everybody else is trying to promote their own products and services on their own platforms, it is remarkable to see one that does the exact opposite.
And it is interesting to note that by adding Apple Watch support, Microsoft has now beaten Google in bringing its cloud storage service to Apple's smartwatch. Google may already have iOS versions of almost all its apps and services, like Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Maps, to name a few, but when it comes to the Apple Watch, it is not clear yet if the search giant is working on something for the highly anticipated wearable device.
Score one for Microsoft.
