Microsoft's Android app emulator Project Astoria is having major setbacks

Microsoft made a big splash earlier this year during its BUILD 2015 event when the company announced that its Windows 10 Mobile platform would support competitor apps through a number of emulators. The announcement was met with much praise from users as the marriage of both iOS apps and Android apps running on Windows would surely solve the app gap problem the platform had been experiencing for years. However, news has broken regarding the Android app emulator, known as Project Astoria, being put on pause either temporarily or indefinitely.

The news broke over at Windows Central, who have managed to get a comment from Microsoft that confirms the setback on Project Astoria:

"We're committed to offering developers many options to bring their apps to the Windows Platform, including bridges available now for Web and iOS, and soon Win32. The Astoria bridge is not ready yet, but other tools offer great options for developers."

Microsoft has made no other official announcements regarding the state of Project Astoria. However, other unnamed sources have pointed to Project Astoria being more than "not ready yet", with the possibility of the project being cut for good. There is no specific reason given for why there have been setbacks on Project Astoria, but the news makes sense given that the code set was removed from Windows 10 Mobile subsystems upon the release of build 10549 back in October. The reason cited for the removal at that time was due to system-wide slowdowns.

It's not all doom and gloom for Microsoft's newest mobile platform. The other three app bridges, Westminster (web apps), Centennial (classic Win32), and Islandwood (iOS) are all still on schedule at this time for release. The iOS port will still ensure the opportunity for a large surge of mobile apps to Windows 10 Mobile, and Westminster's ability to convert web apps to mobile apps is intriguing. Plus, Android apps brought over to Windows 10 Mobile via Astoria would miss out on some of the amazing features that only native apps could utilize (Continuum, for instance).

How do our readers feel about Project Astoria's setbacks? Was the migration of Android apps to Windows 10 Mobile a selling point for you, or are you content with the possibility of only iOS apps being ported over?

Source: Windows Central