Microsoft unwraps Windows app store

There really isn’t any shortage of app stores these days. In what comes as a confirmation to an expected move, Microsoft will launch their own store, called the Windows store, sometime alongside Windows 8. The store will go into beta, sometime in February. A beta build of Windows 8 is also expected sometime then. Microsoft hopes to make their app store more beneficial to developers – they hope to do this by making the system more transparent and easier to work with. The store will house applications ranging from $1.99 right up to $999. There will also be free apps like those found on other app stores, out there. 

Will first appear early next year

Apple has been known to be difficult to work with and Microsoft hopes to be different than them in some ways. For example, Microsoft will take a 30 percent share of the revenue from the apps, but at the same time, they might drop the number if the app generates large revenues. Microsoft has emphasised a lot on the size of their market. Windows 7 has more customers than Android devices, iOS or Macs. Enterprise customers can also customize the system. If Windows 8 manages to make it to many tablets as well as desktops, Microsoft could be looking at being the most used app store. IT administrators will be able to limit access to the apps on the store and if required, will be able to develop custom software that give access to the store. You can find more details of the store on the Windows Store for developers blog.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?