When Nokia announced at their conference that their new flagship app development would be Instagram (Beta) it was met with some mixed reviews.
When Nokia announced at their conference that their new flagship app development would be Instagram (Beta) it was met with some mixed reviews.
For some users it was a relief, their much eagerly awaited app would finally let them riddle their friends with selfies or pictures of a slightly drunken night out with the reddening of faces masked by a series of filters and effects. For others it was a sign that Windows as a mobile OS is still firmly behind Android and IOS.
Released over three years prior to arriving on Windows Phone Instagram was a hit with the social media generation. The ability to save all of your pictures and share them to multiple places at once is a big benefit, especially if you can use filters to look like a 1940s photographer; chic.
Now Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition has finally made its move over onto Windows Phone. Albeit we’re yet to see a fully stable release but for now it’s enough to appease their users who had previously had to rely on apps built to imitate Instagram (6tag being one of those). This news no doubt will have Win 8 users eagerly awaiting the moment in which Instagram’s stable release moves to Windows.
Instagram started off as just a picture sharing tool, but in an effort to compete with Twitter run Vine the Facebook tool decided to move into the realms of video support. Of course this came before it had a Win version.
How much will apps have to expand across three years?
When first downloading Instagram in 2013, you can’t help but wonder if it’s still relevant, yes it gets used as if it’s part of the furniture by long standing users but it’s easier to keep a user base than build one. I could already share my pictures to Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr without the need of a separate app. Admittedly, the use of Instagram is slightly quicker but still.
Instagram isn’t the only high profile absentee from the Windows Phone app store either. Popular picture sharing service Snapchat has recently exploded in popularity. Used to take pictures and captions to send to friends the app was subject to a takeover bid from Facebook but initially has shrugged off the social networking giant’s illustrious advances.
Unofficial ports vs the real deal
Like Instagram though Windows Phone users were soon able to find themselves an unofficial app that would ease their pain (we’ll see an occurring theme here!) in the form of 6snap. An app that boasts about being the first stable Snapchat app for Windows Phone 6snap shows us that developers could be able to migrate their apps across to the Windows Operating System quicker.
In the modern world are we really prepared to wait so long for app releases? Considering how much apps mimic the old fashioned fazes of the school yard, knowing that releases on Windows can sometimes take as much as three years longer than Android and Apple devices, it could well put users off.
Are you a Windows Phone user? Have you started using Instagram? Have you switched from Android/IOS to Windows Phone? We’d love to hear your thoughts below.
Image: Janitors
