Microsoft Brings Edge To Android and IOS (venturebeat.com)

An anonymous reader writes: If you want more proof that Microsoft is embracing Android and iOS, boy, do we have it for you today. The company has launched Edge for iOS in preview, promised Edge for Android is coming soon, and launched Microsoft Launcher for Android in public preview. Edge for iOS preview is available via Apple's TestFlight and is limited, per Apple's rules, to 10,000 users. Microsoft is inviting Windows Insiders in the U.S. to sign up here. Android users can also sign up at that same link -- the preview will hit the Google Play Store in the coming weeks. Microsoft is hoping to release Edge for Android and iOS out of preview "later this year." The Microsoft Launcher is available in preview for English users in the United States on Google Play. Microsoft promises to bring it to other markets "over time" and launch it out of preview "later this year," as well.

Comments

Is there a user base for this?

[sqorbit]

Any average user most likely just sticks with the browser that comes with the phone. Most "power" users won't use Edge anyway. I can't see a large base of installs on iOS or Android for this.

Re:Is there a user base for this?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Sure - they expect at least 80% of their current Zune-on-Android and Zune-on-iOS users to switch within the first three months.

Re:Is there a user base for this?

[iampiti]

I don't know. Firefox, with all its cred on desktop computers has pretty low marketshare on Android so, if they can't even make a good dent on mobile I don't know how Microsoft could. And, differently to desktops, they don't have a dominant OS on mobile to spam people with to use Edge.

Re:Is there a user base for this?

[nine-times]

I think that, most likely, this is a sign that Microsoft is planning to push an Android phone that will come with a lot of the components replaced by Microsoft equivalents.

Re:Is there a user base for this?

[JohnFen]

Except, the huge volume of pee running down the legs of all the 'Web Developer' script kiddies whose cherished scripts would no longer run on everybody elses' computers.

That would be icing on the cake!

Edge on WIndows...why?

[grasshoppa]

I don't know anyone who uses Edge on Windows, why would anyone willingly choose to download and install it on a different OS?

Re:Edge on WIndows...why?

[grasshoppa]

Yes, I'm the family tech. Most new equipment comes with Chrome.

Doesn't matter

[DontBeAMoran]

Whatever browser comes out for iOS means it's rendered internally via WebKit.

What did I do?

[FictionPimp]

I'm sorry Microsoft, what did I do to deserve this?

So why does Android need another browser/launcher?

[iamacat]

Nothing wrong with releasing software, but it needs a reason for existence. When Chrome was released for Windows, the point was speed, minimalistic UI and automatic, hassle free updates. Will Edge automatically reformat desktop pages for mobile? Will Microsoft launcher automatically synchronize apps and widgets across devices? If not, they are wasting a lot of time for user base that will not be significant enough for business.

Everything is Safari underneath

[iTrawl]

I'm not up to speed, but isn't every browser on iOS just a wrapper around UIWebView/WKWebView? The only reason for Microsoft to release "Edge" is for exposure.

But... all is not lost. There's an up side as for a user: having several Safaris around to group tabs by interest is actually useful.

One good thing

[Groo Wanderer]

One good thing is that Google lists number of downloads for an app. It will be interesting to compare results on a platform where the use of a browser is not forced and it is uninstallable. Once there is a number posted, and after a few months you can subtract out the number of MS employees, you should get an idea of how many hundred people are masochists with no regard for security. I am betting less than 10K.

10,000 Users?

[TechyImmigrant]

A limit of 10,000 users for all the Edge users on Android should be plenty.

Re:Firefox for Android is awful.

[Cajun Hell]

For all its faults, I think Firefox is the best web browser for Android. The Android version of Chrome is so broken, it can't even run the plugins that people need these days (e.g. ublock origin, privacy badger). Seriously, how can you tolerate Chrome (same goes for Pale Moon, for some weird reasons) on Android? (I'll admit the desktop situation is different and it's hard to motivate myself to start Firefox there.) Don't all the ads drive you nuts?!?

Android desperately needs more web browsers. I don't believe Microsoft has what it takes to compete, but maybe seeing them "try" will inspire a more serious developer to really try.

Re:MS Psychology [Re:Nobody Likes Our Browser?]

[irrational_design]

Except, under the hood every browser on iOS is Safari. That is, every browser must use Safari's rendering and javascript engines. Edge will just be a different interface on top of the same browser. So MS-Office can't run any faster on Edge versus Safari since Edge is Safari (with a different name and interface) on iOS.

Re:MS Psychology [Re:Nobody Likes Our Browser?]

[Tablizer]

Not necessarily. For example, MS could create a language FooScript for their MS-Office iOS app. Edge could have a compiled-in interpreter for FooScript while other browsers have to use a JavaScript emulator to run FooScript. If you run something that uses FooScript in Edge, it uses Edge's compiled-in interpreter, but if you run it in Safari, it runs via a slower/buggier FooScript emulator written in JavaScript because of course Safari would have no built-in FooScript emulator (at least for a few years).

MS has played similar games to with other products.

Re:MS Psychology [Re:Nobody Likes Our Browser?]

[Tablizer]

I don't know what Apple allows, but that was merely an example to illustrate a point. There are other computation-intensive features that can follow a similar pattern, such as a 3D graphics rendering system, sound synthesizer, neural net trainer, database/sorting engine, etc.

It doesn't even have to be computation-intensive: it can simply be a feature/tag that Edge supports that Safari doesn't. Being computation-intensive just gives MS a better excuse to get away with it.