Microsoft is finally all set to unveil its web browser Microsoft edge on IOS & Android OS platforms. Today the tech giant launched Edge for iOS in preview stage, while promised to launch Edge for Android systems very soon. Besides, the company also re-branded the popular ‘arrow launcher’ to ‘Microsoft Launcher’ and released it in public preview today.
Edge for iOS preview is available through Apple’s Test Flight but will be limited to only first 10,000 users. Android users can also sign through same link, but they will have to wait until the preview hits the Google Play Store in the coming weeks. Microsoft hopes to launch Edge for Android and iOS on full scale basis later this year.
The biggest USP in Microsoft Edge for IOS and Android is the “continue on PC” functionality feature. Thanks to this feature, users can push webpages from their mobiles to PC and resume browsing from where they had left off. The “PC continuity” feature seems to be aimed at Microsoft’s much talked about strategy to bring Windows 10 PCs closer to Android and iOS devices. Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president in Microsoft’s operating systems group, had spoken extensively about this earlier this year at Microsoft’s Build 2017 developer conference.
Interestingly, ‘arrow launcher’ (now known as Microsoft launcher) also aims to bridge this gap between mobile & windows 10 PC.
Meanwhile, some experts feel that Microsoft edge embracing IOS and Android system clearly signifies that the company is losing hope on Windows Mobile, since over the years it has failed to grab market share from Android & IOS. A recent survey had claimed that more than 90% of smartphones across the world operate either on Android or IOS, while Windows is still struggling to leave a mark in the market.