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Pokki partners with Acer to supply desktop web apps on all new Windows 8 PCs

Pokki partners with Acer to supply desktop web apps on all new Windows 8 PCs

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Pokki Acer Zynga
Pokki Acer Zynga

Pokki has long partnered with app developers to create web-based applets for Windows, but this week the company is announcing its first deal with PC maker Acer. The partnership will see new Windows 8-based Acer PCs ship with Pokki preinstalled, providing access to web-based apps and games from the traditional Windows desktop.

Alongside the Acer partnership, Pokki is also teaming up with Zynga to offer games like FarmVille 2, Matching With Friends, and Hidden Chronicles. Pokki's approach effectively makes it easy for developers to package web-based apps or games into a separate native-like application. It also goes one step further, by listing the applications in the Windows Store on behalf of some of the developers involved. Although the apps themselves are not "Metro-style," Pokki is able to list the desktop variants and push Windows users over to their own system and store. A number of third-party developers have yet to invest in Microsoft's Windows 8 apps, so Pokki is hoping to leverage that gap by simplifying it for the third parties involved.

Known for its Start Menu and button replacement for Windows 8, Pokki's latest venture comes just months after the company revealed the popularity of a Start button replacement for Microsoft's new OS. It also marks a new era for PC makers who are increasingly looking to additional app stores and third-party software as a means to improve their offerings for desktop PCs. Lenovo recently teamed up with BlueStacks to pre-load Android apps on Idea-branded PCs, and Pokki says it has more plans for additional OEMs in the future.