Mobile computing wars pose tough choices for Internet publishers

For Microsoft, and Amazon, and the clutch of other companies that hope to carve out a big slice of a mobile computing business currently dominated by Apple, the future depends on people like Scott Porad.

As chief technology officer of Cheezburger Network, a popular publisher of humor websites, Porad has to make the tough calls on which mobile devices merit the development of special software, or apps, that will make the company's content shine. Developing apps for the hot-selling iPhone might be a no-brainer, but that's not the case when it comes to apps for Microsoft's new Windows 8 software, or for the various versions of Google's Android mobile operating system, or for Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices.