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Look how easy it is!  Behold, all the hard work building an iPhone app can be ported over to the hot, new and exciting Windows Mobile OS from Microsoft.  In as little as three steps, developers can reap the joy, riches and camaraderie that comes from being part of the Windows Mobile experience.

Ummm.  Okay if you say so.  Yesterday, Microsoft’s Constanze Roman, Community PM with the Windows Mobile Community Team, posted a case study on the Windows Mobile blog.  Obviously he didn’t get the memo that the “Windows Mobile” name is out and “Windows Phone” is in.  Oh well.

The case study involved taking a rather complex iPhone application, Amplitude, and port it to the Windows Mobile OS.  An impossible project you say?

Thompson’s case study shows, that even though there are some challenges in porting a multimedia-rich application from the iPhone to Windows Mobile, the task can be accomplished, especially with the help of developer-friendly tools like Visual Studio, the richness of community content that is available for Windows Mobile, and last but not least by planning the project ahead and doing all the necessary research in advance.  With Windows Marketplace for Mobile getting ready to open its doors to millions of potential new customers, the opportunity is compelling.

The blog post was flanked with a MSDN article detailing developer Luke Thompson’s app port.  The app Amplitude essentially magnifies sounds from the iPhone’s microphone, say a heartbeat or and makes it audible as well as providing a graphical output.  The app sells for $.99 and has a 2 1/2 star rating in the App Store (though it looks like the app doesn’t play well with earbuds with a built-in microphone).

The blog post points out the negatives of the iPhone OS is: “When porting the app from the iPhone to Windows Mobile, Thompson had to pay attention to major differences in the OS, such as the fact that the iPhone does not support running applications in the background, while background operation is a requirement for all Windows Mobile applications. Adjusting the screen orientation as well as accommodating phones with keyboards was another area which required additional investigation, which led Thompson to MSDN, which ended up providing a workable solution.”

Thompson had apparently two major issues: Windows Mobile doesn’t accept transparencies and alpha blending (which I am pretty sure does not involve a can of ABCs and 123s and a blender) as well as screen size changes.  Despite the challenges in porting an app, the developer was able to accomplish the challenge by utilizing all the resources MS and the developer community have provided.  The dev was able to get his program to work on a pre-build of Windows 6.5 on a HTC Hero.  Now the developer has stars in his eyes, already purchased a Mazzarati and palace in anticipation of the success he’ll have on Windows Mobile, or at least, that is what he would do if he were me.

Can Windows Mobile entice enough developers to care about its OS?  Will 6.5 surprise us?  Here’s to hoping.

Read: [Windows Mobile Blog]