If only Apple would do this...
Eventually OSX will run IOS apps considering the direction of OSX, a bit like how they could run PPC apps on Intel Macs, or older Mac apps after the PPC transition, especially if they ever moved to ARM for OSX (very unlikely). Your iOS apps are synced anyway.
Mac/iOS developers can compile to whichever platform they choose; there's a reason why they sometimes target only iOS, be it touch games or mobile apps. Instagram deliberately doesn't want a desktop version, there are OSX apps that can access Instagram but are forbidden from uploading.
If there was something on Android, however, that wasn't available for iOS/OSX, it could be useful as a bandaid solution, but not really practical as a polished one. BlueStacks are kidding themselves if they think it will drive developers away from iOS as the primary platform to develop for, only paid marketshare can do that; not only does the majority have to run Android, they have to spend more on apps and in-app purchases, not just download free ad-supported apps. At the moment, the money is on iOS.
Being able to run Android apps in a 3rd party player on Window and Mac won't make people choose it over a native app that does the same or similar thing; it is too resource intensive and looks bad stuck in an emulator window and doesn't look or act native. You'd only use something like this either for testing apps in development or as a desperation move for something you feel you have to have without using a phone.
Almost all the things there aren't a desktop version for is for a good reason, be it because it's a mobile app using GPS or casual touch game what won't work as well on a desktop screen with a mouse, or it uses phone features in some other way. Some, like Instagram or WhatsApp, the developers don't want it on the Desktop either.
SgtPepper12 said:
My girlfriend has many friends who use "What's App". However, "What's App" has no Desktop version and she has no smartphone. So she installed bluestacks and "What's App".
kd5jos said:
It's called Trillian... maybe? What'sApp uses Jabber (JID) just like Trillian does, and it's a desktop version. Bonus, no crappy stacks and virtualization to run it in.
in the case of WhatsApp messenger, it is a telephony app that relies on your phone number as username and access to your phone address book with a modified version of XMPP and encrypted text; even running it in an emulator, you forgo using it on your phone as only one of them will work, and you can't simply use a regular Jabber client to log in even if you had a plugin that understood the custom XMPP and could upload images to their servers via HTTP, or you manage to get the right details out of your phone and authorisation from their servers. On Android at least, it uses a hashed version of the phone's IMEI as a password, and as such is tied to a phone. People have tried and failed so far to get something working on a desktop using available Jabber clients by various reverse engineering tricks, like examining the app and sniffing the packets sent.
Only if WhatsApp wants to make support for a Desktop version will you see it, and they've given a definitely no and even refuse non-telephony devices like iPad and iPod touch. Which is not to say it won't change in future if they find a solution like Apple did with Messenger. Needless to say, BlueStacks is not much of a solution in this case.
