Hold on to your selfies, everyone. Some news coming in from Instagram: the hugely popular photo app is finally arriving in the Windows Phone Store today — at 11am Pacific time, to be precise. There have been some murmurs and guesses that this would happen today — and Nokia noted this timeframe last month. Now we’ve just heard the actual time of arrival from a reliable source.
An Instagram Windows Phone app has been a long time coming. Sources who have worked in Nokia’s developer outreach tell me that the company’s very top execs, along with those at Microsoft, spent many months and many air miles wooing both its owner Facebook and Instagram itself — offering cash up front, the developer resources to make the app themselves — and even the first-born kittens from their pet cats (okay maybe not the last one). It was, they believed, one of the essential apps to have on the platform to win over both new smartphone users and migrants from Android and iPhone devices.
That very strong focus on getting Instagram led to many to think that conversations were progressing between the two sides, leading to false guesses as to when the app might appear. Originally, I have been told, the aim was to try to get the app secured in time for the launch of Nokia’s Lumia 1020, with its 41 Megapixel camera. “The best photo app for the best photo phone,” was how it was described to me. But although a lot came out with that device, there was no Instagram.
With Nokia shareholders yesterday approving Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of its Devices and Services business just yesterday, today’s news is perhaps being timed intentionally, as Microsoft’s way of celebrating the new era of Nokia.
We’ll have our eye on the Windows Phone Store for the next couple of hours. Various sources are guessing that the landing page for the app will be here.