• Bloomberg, Friday, March 23, 2012 1:14 PM

Representing a not-insignificant setback for Microsoft and its mobile ambitions, the latest edition of “Angry Birds” will not be available on the Windows Phone platform. “We’re the No. 1 app in the Windows Phone app store, but it’s a big undertaking to support it, and you have to completely rewrite the application,” Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer at Angry Birds-maker Rovio said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Given the immense popularity of the Angry Birds franchise as well as Rovio’s influence in the mobile industry, analysts see the news as a major blow to Microsoft.“This is a worrying development for Windows Phone because it suggests that Rovio does not have much confidence in its future,” Nomura analyst Richard Windsor said in report issued this week. “As the standard version is already number one on the Windows Phone app store, it gives a strong indication that no one else will expect to be making money writing for this platform either.”

Rovio just this week started selling “Angry Birds Space” – the game’s latest interation -- for Apple’s iPhone and handsets running Google’s Android platform.

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