Windows 8 : a Windows App Store ?

Microsoft clearly has the intention of offering a Windows Store for Windows 8, recognising the extraordinary growth seen by Apple.

Of course for the time being all communication about Windows 8 is unofficial. But still going through Microsoft’s confidential document provided to their OEM partners in April 2010, additional information continues to appear. The Microsoft Kitchen blog has now added additional information, noting that Microsoft is ambitious about opening a Windows Store for Windows 8.

This Windows Store will be a good occasion for Microsoft developers and editing partners to provide users with applications that would logically be designed specifically around Windows 8, although it wouldn’t necessarily be limited to this OS. This should help draw additional revenue, with the Windows Store to be directly accessible from Windows 8.

In the document, it indicates that with the Windows Store, "consumers will be able to obtain the applications that they want, from a trusted source, with these then being available on any Windows 8 device". "We will help developers reach out to millions of users".

With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft could do what Apple has not yet done with the App Store, which is currently only adapted to iOS applications and not Mac OS X programs. It is interesting to note that Microsoft recognises Apple’s "extraordinary growth": the promise of a high quality brand and ease of use facilitated by a specifically designed user interface, will lead to brand loyalty... "It’s for this that users will pay".

It is highly unlikely that Microsoft will confirm or deny the authenticity of documents put online though. Windows 8 is planned for release in 2012.