14 DAY TRIAL // One month from now, the first Windows 8-powered devices will become available for purchase, and Microsoft is working hard on making sure that there are enough applications for its users to enjoy on the platform.
Built specifically for the new platform, these apps will be available for purchase and download through Microsoft’s own portal for the platform, the Windows Store.
Thousands of apps are already listed in the storefront, yet more are needed, especially if Microsoft wants its new OS release to prove a worthy rival for Android and iOS.
To ensure that developers do know what the OS and devices powered by it will have to offer, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage at a private event in RocketSpace’s San Francisco yesterday, where he showcased a series of Windows 8 devices, including the Surface tablet PC.
The company unveiled back in June two Surface devices, one running under Windows 8 Pro and set to hit shelves sometime in early 2013, and another powered by Windows RT, which should be released on October 26th, along with the OS itself.
“Really only now can you see [Windows 8] hardware,” Steve Ballmer said at the event, according to a recent article on Wired.com.
“If I’m sitting in your shoes and I say, ‘Hey, what does this Windows 8 thing mean to me? Is it just more notebooks or is it something bigger and broader?’ It gets the bells ringing because you can see the phones, you can see the Surfaces, you can see the touch laptops, you can see the evolution,” he continued.
Unfortunately, Microsoft is still not allowing people to get their hands on the Surface tablet, nor on the accessories that are expected to become available along with it.
Other Windows 8 tablets have already been provided to devs and to the media for hands-on, yet the Surface is still missing from the list.
In fact, we should also note that Microsoft still has a lot of other details to provide on the upcoming device, including info on its pricing and market availability. At said event, Ballmer confirmed that specific details on the matter would be delivered before the device shipped.