Microsoft will unify the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store under a single store new report from The Verge confirms. This news follows previous information about the firm planning to combine Windows RT apps with the phone store and creating a single place for ARM-based chipset devices (e.g., phones and tablets).
According to Tom Warren, Terry Myerson, head of the OS group, confirmed the new direction during a big meeting to employees.
The information this far is just that… Microsoft did not revealed more details to how the new Windows Store unification will work or if at one point all the apps in the store will run across platforms (e.g., Windows Phone, Surface, and Windows 8.1 PCs). However the plan is to have a single store by the next release of Windows and Windows Phone OS.
For sure the change will be welcomed by every Windows user as there will less confusing. Though, it will be interesting to see how things will play out at the end. If Microsoft also changes the model on how Windows 8.1 apps are builded, it’ll also mean that developers will be able to target more devices and they will also spend less time programming. Another thing that can happen is Microsoft taking a page from the Apple Store playbook, where apps designed for tablets don’t work on the phone platform, but phone apps run on a tablet.
Among other things, Terry Myerson noted that the company is committed to the next releases of Windows and Windows Phone (which apparently will be simply called Windows Phone 8.1), and another update is already in works for Windows 8.1 (not Windows 9, even though this version is in the roadmap). Both updates are due in spring 2014.
