Lenovo deal highlights BlueStacks' utility as Windows 8 app stopgap

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BlueStacks signed a deal today that will see its Android App Player software loaded onto Lenovo's Idea computers.

The BlueStacks software lets people run their Android apps on both PCs and Macs. It also syncs data for some apps so that, for instance, if you start a game on an Android phone and later open that game on a PC, you'll be able to resume where you left off. 

The Lenovo Idea computers, including the IdeaPad Yoga, are aimed squarely at consumers. And the press release from the companies about the deal leans toward consumer uses, noting that people will be able to use popular Android games and apps on their Lenovo PCs.

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But people are increasingly able to choose their own phones to use at work, so BlueStacks can also let them run Android apps they use for work on their home computers as well.

Currently, this deal won't help people who have Lenovo products (including one of its Yoga computers) that run Windows RT. That would be the most useful application of BlueStacks, since Windows RT machines can run only the limited number of apps written for it. BlueStacks is reportedly working on such a version of its app player, but it's not certain it will indeed be able to release the app.

However, BlueStacks could serve as a nice stopgap while app developers work on building or tweaking their apps for new Windows 8 machines. While apps built for Windows 7 work on Windows 8, they aren't typically optimized for touch screen devices or for the new Windows 8 user interface. Since Android apps are designed with touch in mind, and Lenovo is making a bunch of Windows 8 touch computers, the BlueStacks app player would let people use those Android apps before their developers might tweak them for Windows 8 touch devices. BlueStacks is also helpful for using a PC to access apps that were designed only for mobile phones.

Bridging Android apps with PCs has a number of useful work-oriented possibilities. Any app that uses an Android phone to scan documents – like business card readers and expense report apps – are great candidates for accessing on a PC. Time trackers, for people who bill hourly, would also be great to access from either a PC or phone.

Anyone could already download the BlueStacks app player regardless of the Lenovo deal, but deals like this one tend to encourage more usage because they spread awareness of the software, which will come preloaded. BlueStacks has a similar deal with Asus. Combined, the deals should see BlueStacks preloaded on 100 million PCs this year, the company said.

Nancy Gohring is a freelance journalist who has been writing about mobile networks, cloud computing and consumer electronics for more than a decade. Read Nancy's bio