If you can't beat them, steal them. Or, at least, make it as easy as you possibly can to port to your platform.

The launch of a new API mapping tool for Windows Phone 7, coupled with the roll out of a handy guide, signifies just where Microsoft thinks the competition is, with both aimed exclusively at tempting iOS studios across to the fold.

Tool rules

The mapping tool is designed to "help developers find their way around when they discover the Windows Phone platform", with a specific focus on the differences between WP7 and iOS.

"With this tool, iPhone developers can grab their apps, pick out the iOS API calls, and quickly look up the equivalent classes, methods and notification events in WP7," Microsoft says on its website.

"A developer can search a given iOS API call and find the equivalent WP7 along with C# sample codes and API documentations for both platforms."

Game for a guide

Though the tool doesn't cover mapping for all the APIs – Microsoft pointing out that the two platforms are "built upon different architectures and user interfaces" - it is coupled with the launch of a new development guide, again pitched at aiding iOS studios.

Split into eight chapters, the guide – dubbed 'Windows Phone 7 Guide for iPhone Application Developers' – not only focuses on the actual coding, but also discusses lifecycle differences and the importance of notifications on WP7.

"If you have been developing iPhone applications and are interested in building your applications for Windows Phone 7, this guide is for you," states Microsoft.

"The guide will cover what you need to know to add Windows Phone 7 development to your skill set, while leveraging what you have already learned building iPhone applications."

Further chapters are set to follow in the future, as well as a similar set of tools for Android developers.

[source: MobileGamesBlog]