Microsoft Store Soon Online

Microsoft will officially launch Windows 8 in 2012. We also know that an applications store will be launched around the same time. Microsoft has just officially unveiled further information on its online store.

We posted some screenshots and explanatory videos for you recently on Windows 8, the tablet version of which was presented at Computex 2011. A developer's version has been available for download for some time on the Microsoft site along with a development kit. Windows Store, for downloading applications, will also be coming online soon, with Microsoft now unveiling details on the content, workings and look of its online store. 

Microsoft's Windows Store will be accessible in test version at the same time as the Beta version of Windows 8 at the end of February 2012. Only free applications will be available during the test period and on the Microsoft blog, devoted to developers, Microsoft explains that applications will be compatible with Metro, the Windows 8 interface.
The remuneration conditions on offer for developers are mouthwatering: Microsoft is promising to share up to 80% of the revenue from app sales with 70% as the base figure (this increases as soon as the application has brought in more than $25,000). It will cost developers $49 to sign up to sell their applications on the Windows Store and $99 for companies. An applications competition is now open to developers who want to see their applications appear in the Beta version of the Windows Store.

Microsoft is also promising freedom and flexibiltiy both in the development of applications and the choice of business model. Microsoft has its own payments platform but also leaves it open for developers to use third party payment services in the same way that eBay does with Paypal.

Microsoft hopes to provide simple visibility of apps to users.

The Microsoft applications store has been designed to make applications visible, allow users to discover them easily and find what suits them. They are classed by category, linked to popularity: the most recent, most downloaded, most sought after etc. with customised advice. The applications catalogue, which will include both paid and free apps in its definitive version, will be rolled out in 231 countries. You'll be able to access both the catalogue of your country and the listing for the rest of the world.

Microsoft is promising freedom, transparency and flexibility both to its partners and users. This is something that remains to be seen of course when the store is officially launched. We can't stop ourselves from asking if Apple should be worried... because while Microsoft's no.1 competitor is never mentioned, the promises made to developers on flexibility and remuneration implicitly invite a comparison.



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