Windows Store Details Announced
Microsoft's next operating system Windows 8 will have an app store. That's what every tech savvy Windows user knows. Microsoft's own Antoine Leblond and Ted Dworkin have now
started a small series of posts about the Windows Store over at the Building Windows 8 blog. Much of what's being said in the first post is aimed at software developers and companies who may consider publishing their apps in the store.
Most interesting from a developer point of view are the store's fee structure and the ways to earn money with apps. Individual developers pay $49, businesses $99 to register for a Windows Store developer account. Developers earn 70% of every customer dollar for the first $25,000 dollars of an app's sales, and 80% afterwards.
Microsoft will be handling all the payment processing. Software companies and developers can earn money through other means, including in-app purchases, advertising and even third party commerce transactions.
Windows Store agreements have been published which contain standard application license terms and other information important for app developers. Both the agreements and the business terms are preliminary and subject to change.
Windows Store contents are indexed by search engines, and users can directly link to app web pages.
The Windows Store will be available when the Windows Beta ships. It will offer free and commercial apps alike. Microsoft is currently trying to stimulate app development with the first apps contest for Windows 8.
A windows Store video has been published that highlights the known details of the store.
It will be interesting to see how Microsoft's store fares in comparison to Apple's store or the Android market. While I'm not 100% certain it seems as if the store is only about Metro style apps and not about standard software programs for the Windows operating system.
While it is to early to tell if that's really the case, it feels like as if Microsoft is missing out on this great opportunity to sell software to Windows users via the store directly.
What's your take on Windows Store? Let me know in the comments.
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My take on Windows Store is “No way”.
Better free repository than paid store :)
It should not be different from other stores where you get free and paid apps. I still have to wait for the beta to see how the OS will perform on a desktop PC. If they are keeping up with the current interface I’m going to skip it, buy a cheap tablet and use that for testing for Ghacks.
It happened so that I worked with WinPhone 7 and Metro before it’s official release, and I just hate the idea. It’s ugly.
Even more, I don’t get the idea of any mobile-like interface and “app store” on desktop at all. Desktop is about windows, and command line, it was never about tiles, and never be, I think. So as for me it’s bad idea.
When I compared Android to other mobile OSs, I was proud than, as on early PCs, I can install any apk, wherever I get it. I don’t need any app store clearance, I need more freedom for my desktop :)