Windows 11 and Android: A two-way relationship

Windows 11 is coming. Microsoft’s latest software is being paraded: making headlines, creating questions as soon as they answer another, and preparing people for a post-Windows 10 landscape. Tipped for release towards the very end of 2021, industry experts and everyday consumers are eagerly awaiting what and how it’ll be. Significant features have already been announced: a new design, new optimisations, new specification requirements and – what we’ll be focusing on today – new integrations.

Android apps will be native to Windows 11. While this isn’t necessarily radical news for iOS users who have access to some smartphone-based apps, it does present a significant shift in priorities. For the last couple decades, hardware and software programmers have focused on adapting PC and laptop apps and websites for smartphones. Now, though, that relationship is being flipped.

The Mobile Market
As mentioned, for years the emphasis has been on accommodating the mobile market, ensuring that this massive and booming landscape was accessible for their company’s products, apps, and websites. It was a gold rush, in some cases. In particular, social media platforms saw a big influx of users download and sign-up, as did online casino providers. In both instances, consumers (and companies) saw the value of being able to make use of apps anywhere and anytime. Online casinos cater to this branch of their audience specifically, with mobile-exclusive bonuses, while bringing over from their browser-based product the extensive catalogue, data security, and general online casino experience consumers want.

The mobile market is still fertile ground today. Not every company has ventured in yet. Gaming console hardware and publishing companies like Xbox and PlayStation are only now turning their attention to its potential, mostly because of the advent of cloud computing. Again, as with the smartphone technology itself, cloud computing develops ubiquity and access, taking it to a level where the demands of the hardware are fundamentally altered because all the heavy lifting of rendering and processing accomplished by remote services, with the content or gameplay then streamed to the phone, meaning battery, screen resolution, and internet connection are the key factors in determining which handset is purchased.

Android and Windows 11
Windows 11 takes a slightly different approach to the mobile market by incorporating Android apps (via the Amazon Appstore). What it’s essentially doing is collapsing the distinction of the mobile market and the PC and laptop market. It is not one versus the other anymore. The two spaces, to an extent, become joined. This will be new even for iOS users, as apps like TikTok, which can’t be downloaded onto Macs and Macbooks, will be available on Windows 11. It is the incorporation of app-reliant companies – TikTok, Uber, Ring, Venmo, etc. – which will receive the notable benefits of having access to a market which they had previously opted out of, as none of them have functional websites. It’s unlikely to change the approach of the companies, but what it does allow is the consumer to have complete control over how and where they use apps.