Microsoft's got a weird history when it comes to strategy: popular software like Office has always been best on Microsoft's own operating system, Windows. In recent years, that's begun to shift -- Office is now everywhere, including Apple and Google's tablets, and the company's apparently taking a similar approach with other parts of its app library. The MSN suite of apps (News, Sports, Health & Fitness, Food & Drink and Money) is now available on iOS and Android; MSN Weather is out on Android, with an IOS release in the coming weeks. The mobile apps are just getting revamped after a relaunch of the MSN website earlier this year.
Moreover, those apps are probably pretty okay on Microsoft's competitor's platforms: Redmond just acquired mobile app testing company HockeyApp. Wait, before you write off that name forever as incredibly silly (it is, you're right), know that it's just the moniker for a company that offers crash analytics and a test environment for mobile apps (from iOS to Android and even Microsoft's mobile Windows platform). Yes, it is a pretty unexciting sounding acquisition, but what it means for the big picture is more important: if, say, Google were to buy the platform, Microsoft could lose a strategic part of the mobile puzzle. And Microsoft isn't in a position to lose any ground when it comes to mobile -- the company's beyond a distant third place spot when it comes to mainstream adoption.