Edge? Why?

[Wingsley]

Engadget has been covering developments with Microsoft bringing its Edge web browser, their successor flagship internet app to Internet Explorer, to iOS. I understand it is now available for iPhones (I don't have an iPhone, so I can't comment on that) and now a new beta for iPads.

Why?

Why is Microsoft interested in getting iOS mobile devices using Edge?

Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of a greater diversity of offerings in any App Store, regardless of platform. I say "the more, the merrier." And I really do believe that Apple mobile device owners are, at least in theory, better off with another choice besides Safari and Chrome.

But why is Microsoft doing this? It obviously costs money to bring Edge, presumably a free browser, to iOS for the first time. What does Microsoft hope to accomplish here?

And why would I want to use Edge on an iPad?

Is there anything about Edge that makes it attractive to iOS users?

Does this mean Edge is destined to make a debut in the Mac App Store as well? Why or why not?

 

[Kingcr]

Like all browsers on iOS, Edge uses Safari’s rendering engine. So bringing Edge to iOS is all about Microsoft extending their ecosystem and services to iOS since Windows phones are basically dead, rather than adding any new technology. Those who like the MS experiences and use Edge on Windows (a very small minority until Windows 10 S mode becomes mainstream) can sync between desktop and mobile Edge etc. Same as you’d expect in any other ecosystem. Like most people here, you’re obviously not looking for the MS experience, so Edge probably won’t be much use to you.

As for Edge on macOS, that won’t happen. Firstly because MS already has Edge on their desktop platform and so it’s not part of their strategy and secondly because they’d need to port the Edge engine, EdgeHTML, to macOS and that’s probably no small task.