Aviary, a photo-editing tech startup backed by investors including Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is placing a bet on Nokia and Windows Phone with plans to expand its platform to the Microsoft mobile operating system — making it possible for software developers to incorporate its photo-editing technology into Windows Phone apps.
The 13-person startup, based in the New York area, plans to release a new Windows Phone software development kit within the next month-and-half, adding to its existing support for Android, iOS and web applications. The Aviary platform includes standard photo editing tools in addition to advanced effects, red-eye removal and other features.
Aviary was convinced to make the investment in the Windows Phone SDK based on factors including Nokia’s focus on photography in the new Lumia line of Windows Phones, with Carl Zeiss lenses.
“At a hardware level they’ve just done everything right,” said Paul Murphy, a vice president at Aviary and a Microsoft veteran who worked as chief of staff for Stephen Elop, now the Nokia CEO, when Elop was president of the Microsoft Business Division.
The technology will be available across the Windows Phone device ecosystem, but Aviary will also release a showcase app first on Nokia devices that demonstrates the potential of its platform on Windows Phones.
The Aviary platform is free for developers to use in their apps. Aviary makes its revenue by offering premium effects and stickers, sharing part of the revenue with app developers. The company has close to 400 partners on the web and mobile devices, including social network Ning, TypePad, Pic Collage and many others.
Part of the goal is to persuade existing and future Aviary partners to port their imaging apps to Windows Phone, in addition to enabling new apps for the Microsoft mobile platform.
