Microsoft OneApp

Microsoft seems really interested in the mobile phone segment of late. If it announced a major partnership with Nokia a few weeks ago, its now time to announce its OneApp service which promises to bring smartphone like abilities to feature phones.

This also marks the beginning of Microsoft "deviation" into the non-smartpone scheme of things who, until now, had only the Windows Mobile smartphone OS in its mobile arsenal. Microsoft had never ventured into making hardware and it still seems committed to that policy. That however doesn't seem to have stopped the company from concentrating on non-smartphones.

As for OneApp, this happens to be a "do it all" application that will enable users to run various subsidiary applications under it's umbrella. These include mini Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Twitter and Mobile Wallet applications. It's a pretty light on the resources, "weighing" in at just 150KB. The add-on apps are just 30KB in size and hence should fit in most feature phones of today. The best thing about this is that it offers users to access the service "online" being more of a cloud service. Which means, users do not really store and install apps to their devices.

"When people see these apps running on a feature phone, their eyes light up. It's pretty exciting. What we're letting you do is get access to the applications and services you want from a device you already own. If you don't own a PC, or you share a PC, your mobile phone may be your first or only computing device," said Tim McDonough, Microsoft's senior director of Mobile Product Management.

OneApp will be initially launched in South Africa. For those wanting more, there's a video preview available as well - strangely showcasing the service being used on a Nokia smartphone!