Microsoft Garage has announced the availability of some new, innovative apps and will be developing many more, to "explore creation of cross-platform apps."
Over the last 5 years, Microsoft Garage has been encouraging its developers to create new experiences for users in their spare time with the motto "Do epic sh*t!". Now, the company has announced that the Garage program will expand to cloud connected apps on multiple platforms such as Android, iOS and Windows Phone and be made available to consumers when they are ready.
The goal of expanding Garage is to connect the ~10,000 developers to actual consumers and receive feedback for projects which otherwise would not have seen a launch outside the company. The apps that are made available to users will be tested internally by Microsoft staff first.
A couple of these interesting apps launching today are described below:
- Next Lock Screen, available on Android: Next Lock Screen brings the most relevant apps and information to your lock screen.
- Torque, available on Android: Torque brings the web to Android Wear with a twist of the wrist.
- Collaborate, available on Windows Phone and Windows 8.1: Collaborate is a shared digital whiteboard experience that enables effortless visual collaboration in real time across multiple personal and shared devices.
- Journey and Notes, available on Android: An MSR-developed app out of FUSE Labs that connects commuters using public transit with others doing the same.
Microsoft has made an initial batch of applications available on the Garage"s website under the Workbench tab. While most applications available currently are developed for Windows and Windows Phone, there are few for Android such as the Next Lock Screen for smartphones and Torque for Android Wear devices.
Source: Microsoft | Microsoft Garage developer Xuedong Huang image via Microsoft