Microsoft is using Android apps as mobile testbeds

This past Friday, Business Insider revealed that Microsoft had acquired Double Labs, a small shop that makes an Android app screen replacement called Echo Notification Lockscreen. That seems like a weird thing to do, because Microsoft's Garage Labs already makes a similar app, called Next Lock Screen. But if you look at what Microsoft has been doing on Android (especially with Garage Labs), it actually makes a bit of sense.

The key is that Microsoft is trying to experiment with a lot of different ideas on mobile instead of betting the farm on some big concept (like it did with Windows 8). So it has its own lock screen on Android that focuses on showing contextually relevant apps and faster access to stuff like making conference calls....

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