Microsoft launches first app for Android

Microsoft is offering its Tag app on all smartphone platforms

Microsoft is to make its Tag barcode scanning application available on Google's Android platform, in a move suggesting that the software giant is not afraid to partner with its arch rival to promote its products.

The application allows smartphone users to photograph barcodes on products, and gain information such as videos, reviews and contact details. Tag is the first application Microsoft has launched on the Android system.

Benjamin Gauthey, digital marketing manager at Microsoft, said in a blog post that demand for the application was one of the factors behind the move to Android as the company looks to offer the product to all smartphone users.

"It is important to give more people access to Tag because there is a huge demand for reliable mobile barcoding. Businesses and consumers are eager to find creative ways to use their phone and hyperlink the real world," he wrote.

Microsoft has already made the application available on other platforms, including Windows Mobile, J2ME, iPhone, BlackBerry and Symbian S60. The application is free to download, and works on 1.6 and 2.X versions of Android.

Microsoft's decision is part of a growing move to make applications platform agnostic, such as the announcement at Mobile World Congress of the Wholesale Applications Community.