ZDNet‘s Mary Jo Foley was among the first to notice that Microsoft is wrapping some sites on the mobile web in app-like package and enabling users to download them through the Windows Phone store. The company offers roughly four dozen “Microsoft WebApps,” as they’re being called, and concedes that “In most cases we hope that usage of the Web App will encourage the ISV to publish its own native app.”

Reactions to this effort have been mixed at best: The Verge calls it “a desperate attempt to attract Windows Phone developers,” and commenters on both posts note that Microsoft’s own policies ban Windows Phone apps that do no more than simply launch a web page. I have a hard time getting worked up about this, though. Using downloaded icons to access favorite web pages is surely the easiest way to help users reach their online destinations, and the strategy might actually entice some website owners to publish native Windows Phone apps. So WebApps seem to me to be a win-win for Microsoft and its users.