Windows Store

Microsoft have started to aggressively market their new App Store challenger, the Windows Store; explaining that this will offer developers more customers, more money and more freedom.

The main corporate advantage is that developers will keep 70% of all the money made from their app sales as standard which is also set to increase to 80% when sales exceed 25,000. This means that alternative App Stores will have to decrease their sales share in order to continue competing in the market should the Windows Store take off.

"It's not a small opportunity, it's not even a medium one or a large one," said Antoine Leblond at the recent press conference. "In fact, it's the most significant developer opportunity ever."

He also explained that due to the popularity of Windows the market area is vast and the opportunity to profit from this new venture is massive for all those concerned. He shouted about Windows sales over the last 2 years and how they have exceeded the combined sales total of all iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac devices.

Initially the Windows Store will be available in over 100 languages, and support local currency payments in the top 40 regional world markets (by GDP).

Another advantage of the Windows Store is that it won’t restrict developers to certain business models and Leblond told the audience that eBay and PayPal are integrated in the support of the store.

News has also filtered down to confirm that there will be free trials available for the applications on sale too but no news yet on whether this is a necessity.

It’s interesting to hear that the Windows Store will be a lot more interactive then their competition as people can upload lists of their most useful applications and give detailed reviews on their purchases to let others know great or terrible they are.

The Windows 8 Store should be considered a glimpse of what the Xbox Live system could one day offer and sits easily on the recently released dashboard. The beta will be out late in February 2012 for everyone worldwide.