Speak to any studio yet to offer support for Windows Phone, and you'll find the main barrier to entry is not the platform's comparatively slender market share, but rather its lack of support for native code.
Not only does this stance make life more difficult for game developers who want to port existing content, it also effectively blocks the use of tools such as Unity a situation as unpopular with developers as it is with Unity itself.
It's a state of play Microsoft looks set to rectify with the next major update to the platform dubbed Tango according to reports emanating from a Windows Phone developer camp in India.
Talking your language
According to a story published and later pulled at Microsoft's request by blog WP Sauce, Microsoft's Vikram Sharma told attendees C++ support will be included in Tango (known - but not officially - as Windows Phone 7.6).
Captured in tweet form, such a move would represent an acceleration on Microsoft's part, with previous rumours having suggested it would be Windows Phone 8 Apollo that would usher in native code support.
Outside of development tools, it's also claimed Tango will add support for a total of 120 different languages a key weapon in the platform's arsenal as it looks to reach out to developing markets, with Nokia the likely driving force.
[source: LiveSide.net]
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With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
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