Windows Phone Thoughts: WP7 Halo Effect Spurring App Growth On Other Platforms?

"Windows Phone's market share may be low (according to Millennial Media, only about 2 percent of the U.S. market - PDF) but for venture capital-backed Kik, it was definitely worth launching on the platform. According to the company, Android and iOS user growth was actually 22 percent higher than anticipated following the launch of the WP7 app."

Here's an interesting phenomenon. An app developer releases a cross-platform app (in this case a messaging app) on the Windows Phone 7 platform, and it spurs additional users to buy and use the app on competing platforms. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. Messaging apps require two (or more) to tango, and with the right app those users could be on, potentially, any platform. Sell one copy of the app to a WP7 user, and their two friends using Android and IOS devices want in on the fun. The result: three app sales. Click through on the Read link to the TechCrunch site where the experience of Kik Interactive developers is detailed.