Microsoft has offered a "bucket of money" to a developer of an iPhone Twitter client, which has kicked off rumours that the Redmond-based computing giant may well be courting other iPhone app developers to produce third-party games and software for the new Zune HD.
While we remain unsure of the exact amount referred to by "a bucket of money" TechRadar imagines that it is in the ballpark of "a serious wedge" and considerably more than "a pony" or "a monkey".
We're gonna need a bigger bucket
John Gruber over at Daring Fireball received an email from the developer of an iPhone Twitter client who tells how Microsoft offered him said cash-bucket-incentive to port his Twitter app to the Zune.
"Clearly, the Zune HD is going to be compared to the iPod Touch. Its biggest shortcoming is that it's just a media player and web browser; no apps, no games," writes Gruber.
"I mean, why not? The software platform has quickly become a major driving force behind the sales growth of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Microsoft is a software platform company."Developers, developers, developers", right?. "
However, it could prove to be the case that Microsoft needs to find bigger cash buckets, as the developer in question "turned them down, but assumes...that Microsoft reached out to the developers of multiple popular iPhone apps."
Stay tuned for more on Zune games and apps as and when we hear more.
Via Daring Fireball
