Well here’s a turn up for the books. When you’re looking at what is predominantly a two horse race, who comes third doesn’t often matter – but that’s not really the case when you’re talking mobile platforms. Case in point? Rovio has made the controversial decision to launch Angry Birds Space on the BlackBerry PlayBook before Windows Phone. Is it another sign of Microsoft’s platform struggling to gain momentum?
When Angry Birds Space first launched, Rovio made the bold claim that it had no plans to port the game to Windows Phone. At the time we asserted that the decision was a nail in the Windows Phone app catalogue’s coffin, but even then we wouldn’t have predicted this: the astronomical sequal has made its way to RIM’s struggling PlayBook tablet instead.
Saving the PlayBook: The last-ditch test
While RIM has made steps to make porting apps from Android to the PlayBook a fairly easy process, it’s still a shock to see Microsoft’s mobile platform neglected by such a key player in the mobile gaming market.
The PlayBook has, despite our efforts to save it in a recent series of tests, struggled to make any sort of impact on the tablet market, which is why Rovio’s decision is so confusing: in picking one of the losing horses it’s backed arguably the one furthest behind.
Angry Birds Space and Windows Phone’s secret shame
The original Angry Birds took a long time to get to Windows Phone, but is there now. Rovio tried to retract its statement about Angry Birds Space’s Windows Phone fate, but one thing’s for sure: there’s no launch currently on the cards. Is this a bad call on Rovio’s part, or does it make sense? Is its side-stepping of Microsoft’s mobile platform frustrating? Let us know your thoughts below.
