TikTok launches enhanced app for Microsoft Surface Duo

The enhanced TikTok app for Microsoft’s Surface Duo is available via the Google Play Store in the US. Image: Courtesy of Microsoft via AFP Relaxnews.

Microsoft and TikTok are joining forces. The Chinese social network has launched an enhanced version of its app tailored to Microsoft’s new Surface Duo smartphone, out now in the United States and coming to Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and France in early 2021. Could this be a good way of reaching out to consumers who can’t get enough of the video sharing platform?

“We’re excited to share that TikTok has released an enhanced app that brings entirely new experiences that light up on Surface Duo,” Microsoft said in a blog post.

The most downloaded app of 2020 draws on the design of Microsoft’s new smartphone, the Surface Duo, to make use of its two screens.

“Optimized for two screens, you can discover videos customized for you while, at the same time, exploring relevant hashtags, the latest trends and more,” as per the blog post.

Out now in the U.S., this enhanced TikTok app for the Surface Duo lets users see the “For You” feed on one screen while searching for videos on the other. It’s an important partnership for the two firms, given the huge success of TikTok — which boomed in 2020 — and the extensive scale of smartphone usage, boosted by stay-at-home orders around the world to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Before TikTok, Amazon Kindle and Spotify also enhanced their applications for a better user experience on the Surface Duo, Microsoft said. Note that Microsoft tried to purchase TikTok’s U.S. operations a few months back after the American government threatened to ban the Chinese social network in the U.S.

Microsoft also announced that the Surface Duo smartphone will launch early 2021 in Canada, the U.K., Germany and France, although the firm did not give exact release dates. CC

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