Why should only men have all the fun? Microsoft, which is trying to challenge its rival Google's Android dominance in the smartphone segment, says it is time to write a ‘Code for Her' to give women exclusive applications on their mobile operating system Windows Phone 7.

With Google's Android swarming the smartphones with a basket of 1.50 lakh applications, Microsoft has asked its staff how best the company could provide niche applications on marketplace, the online shop to get access to free and not-for-free applications.

Internal drive

It has launched an internal drive, called Garage, asking its staff to come out with unique ideas that could make “her life easier and simpler”. It made a good beginning, as the ‘Code for Her' team churning out at least 4-5 app ideas. They include one to help women when they go on their favourite errand – shopping. Another application would be a guru for all her's yoga needs.

But what attracted the developing community was Immunisation Tracker, guiding smart mothers to the right vaccine schedule. A three-member team showcased the app here on Wednesday.

A mother of two, Ms Madhavi B, said she knew how difficult it was for mothers to keep track of the vaccine schedule. A miss in a shot could result in a health hazard at a later stage. “We have taken WHO standards and factored in statutory vaccine schedules of some countries, including the US and India,” Mr Alok Sharma and Ms Varsha Sharma, who were also in the team, said.

In the beta-testing phase, they hope that the app would be ready just in time when marketplace is thrown open to Indian phone users.

The scope of Garage is much bigger. Teams, each comprising 2-3 employees, comes out with ideas that could be converted later into solutions – both standalone and those that could be intertwined into the enterprise applications.

“We give them access to the cloud and encourage them to build solutions based on ideas that they think address user needs,” Mr Matt Hempey, Principal Solutions Manager, overseeing the initiative, said.

Listen to documents

Another application that was showcased at the Garage Science Fair, held at the Microsoft India Development Centre, was Doctoso, a solution that would let phone users to listen to the Office documents and books in 15 languages (none from India). Instantaneously, they could get them translated into any of these languages.

Related Topics