Why there are no Chromecast apps on Windows Phone - because Google won't allow it

This is a post by blogger and programmer Stefan Nuxoll

I am leaving for a business trip on Sunday, and after getting tired of crappy cable TV at hotels I decided to pick up a Chromecast to use while I am out of town.

I own a Nexus 5 in addition to a Lumia Icon, so I figured I could get some normal use out of it with Netflix and Pandora and then see if I could get it working on Windows Phone (for which Google supplies no official SDK).

To develop a Chromecast application you must register with the Chromecast developer program for a nominal $5 entry fee, then you must register your application and the URL the device will open when casting is initiated (there is no way to send an arbitrary URL to the device, it can only open a registered application’s URL). In my haste, I had signed up for this program and skipped over a very important part of the terms of service (emphasis mine):

3.2   You may not use the Google Cast SDK, either directly or by using the contents of the Google Cast SDK, to develop a standalone technology and/or to block or otherwise adversely impact any functionality of any Google Cast Receiver. For example, you may not build functionality equivalent to the APIs provided by the Google Cast SDK. You further agree that you will not create any exploits of any Google Cast Receiver, such as rooting a device.

Since you MUST sign up with this program to develop a Google Cast Ready application, there is no way (legally) to do so on a platform that Google does not officially provide an SDK for. Effectively, Google is blatantly saying “If you don’t use Android, iOS or Google Chrome, you can go away”.

After Google’s recent olive branch with the release of the Google APIs Client Library for .NET I am quite surprised that this language is still in the Chromecast Terms.