14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has yet to confirm officially the Windows App Store for Windows 8, but the company provided the closest thing, a confirmation of the existence of the App Store team. Care to take a wild guess what they’re building?
Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows and Windows Live Division provided a list with some of the many teams building Windows 8, including the App Store group.
“Many of the teams listed (…) describe features or areas that you are familiar with or that you can probably figure out based on the name,” he explained.
This is the case of the App Store team, developing the feature with the same label, a new stage in the evolution of programs for the Windows operating system.
Sinofsky’s simple mention of the App Store team indicates that there was in fact truth to the speculation that the software giant was hard at work developing an application marketplace for Windows 8.
As I’ve said, the Redmond company has yet to offer any details on the Windows 8 App Store, and the small piece of information published by the Windows boss can hardly qualify for something consistent.
Still, there have been a number of similar hints from Microsoft. One of the tiles on the new Start Menu in the first Windows 8 previews in June 2011 mentioned “Store” next to a stylized icon of a shopping bag sporting the Windows logo.
In addition, the company has been one of the strongest opponents of Apple trademarking “App Store,” a brand it’s already using for the Mac OS X application marketplace.
The Windows 8 App Store is expected to be much more than just a software marketplace. There are indications that the Windows App Store is part of a much broader strategy to bridge Windows 8 with the Cloud.
Roaming User Accounts powered by Windows Live ID will reportedly allow customers to take personalization settings, additional customizations, application, and more to any Windows 8 device they use, since all content will be synchronized via the Cloud.