There have been hints that Microsoft"s mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 will have more than just superficial links to its upcoming Windows 8 PC operating system. Today, News.com reports that the CEO of graphics chip maker NVIDIA, Jen-Hsun Huang, believes that applications that are created for Windows Phone 7 will also be able to run on Windows 8. The article doesn"t expand on if Huang is just speculating or if he has some inside information about such a crossover development feature.
If true, that would mean that any programs made for Microsoft"s mobile operating system could also find a home on the many PCs and tablet devices that will run on Windows 8. It"s possible that Microsoft could reveal more links between the two operating systems at the BUILD conference in Anaheim, California next week.
The News.com article is mostly about NVIDIA"s growth in the mobile processor market. Huang believes the company will generate as much as $20 billion from its mobile processor unit by 2015, about 10 times more than what it currently brings in. By contrast the company predicts its older PC graphics chip division will only see a 75 percent growth in revenue by the same time frame, to $7 billion. Huang says that its Tegra processor is in 50 percent of the higher end Android-based smartphones and in 70 percent of Android based tablets. The company is working on its quad-core mobile processor, code named "Kal-El", that"s due to debut in some devices by the end of 2011.