While the companies have always been fierce competitors, there is also a long history of cooperation between Apple and Microsoft. It may seem that with its own wearable wrist accessory (you can’t quite call the Microsoft Band a smartwatch) on the market, Microsoft would be hesitant to support the Apple Watch, but as it turns out, that’s not so.
As part of the latest update to its OneDrive app for iOS, Microsoft has added support for the Apple Watch. For now, the app simply allows you to browse through photos on the watch, but it will be interesting to see what if any other Apple Watch-specific features are added to the app in the future.
The new update allows users to view their most recent photos, delete unwanted photos, and even find photos by tag. The Apple Watch’s small screen likely isn’t the most obvious choice for serious photo management, but it’s still a nice feature, especially if your phone is plugged in or located elsewhere at the moment.
This is yet another in a long line of recent Microsoft moves that we probably wouldn’t have seen even a few years ago. With the departure of Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella’s move to CEO, the company has been ruthlessly streamlining its existing product lines while exploring new platforms and services.
We started to see this new Microsoft last year when the company made its Office suite freely available on iOS and Android devices, and this year has seen the arrival of the company’s Office Lens app, the newly updated Outlook app, and the announcement that its Cortana personal assistant would be coming to iOS and Android.
It could even be argued that, at least when it comes to mobile devices, Microsoft is making better software for its competitors’ platforms than it is for its own. This may or may not be good for the company, but it’s certainly good for users.
