Microsoft has unveiled a new software package called OneApp, which will allow feature phone users to run applications.

Microsoft has introduced new software called OneApp which will give cheap mobile phones the ability to run similar applications to smartphones, such as Facebook and Twitter.

The OneApp software will enable so-called feature phones to access mobile applications such as online social networks as well as Windows Live Messenger and games, much like smartphones.

It has been designed for emerging markets and to run on mobile phones with limited memory and processing capability.

Unlike similar offered by various networks and manufacturers through application stores, OneApp is a single downloadable application with a set of features.

Microsoft has stated that OneApp will use cloud computing services to offload data from the mobile phone to the internet, where it can be stored without clogging up the handset’s memory.

OneApp will initially be launched in the few weeks’ time in South Africa through Blue Label Telecoms.

Amit Mital, Corporate Vice President of the Unlimited Potential Group and Startup Business Accelerator at Microsoft, said: “Microsoft OneApp will be able to help people do things they couldn’t do before with their feature phone – anything from paying their bills to helping diagnose their health issues or just staying connected with friends and family.”

As with Apple’s App Store, developers will be able to write new applications for OneApp using JavaScript or XML. The OneApp software developer kit is expected to be available by the end of this year.