8apps

Microsoft VP: 100,000 Windows 8 apps by January

As of last week, there were an estimated 3,000-plus Windows Store style (Metro-Style) apps in the app store that Microsoft has built for Windows 8 and Windows RT. That same week, a Microsoft sales vice president told Beet.tv that Microsoft will have 100,000 apps for Windows 8 within 90 days after the operating system launches, which is October 25.

Unless that official, Keith Lorizio, vice-president of U.S. sales and marketing at Microsoft, is counting both Windows Store and Desktop (Win 32) apps, I can't see how these missing 97,000 apps are going to materialize … Read more

Windows 8 app store now open to all developers

Microsoft's Windows Store -- the built-in app store for Windows 8 and Windows RT -- is open to all developers in 120 markets, as of today

Of these 120 markets, 82 are newly supported, according to a new post on the "Windows Store for Developers" blog. (Here's a list of the markets now supported.)

To reward developers "for their interest and commitment to Windows," Microsoft officials have said they are providing all eligible Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers with a free, one-year Windows Store developer account as part of their MSDN benefits. ("… Read more

Microsoft works to lure devs by taking less for app sales

SAN FRANCISCO--In a bid to lure developers to its upcoming application store for Windows, Microsoft revealed a new pricing scheme designed to undercut rivals' marketplaces.

Microsoft will take 30 percent of application sales revenue from programs sold in the Windows Store, an app marketplace that will be build into Windows 8, similar to what rivals such as Apple take from app sales in their stores. But Microsoft will take only 20 percent once an app makes more than $25,000.

"We're going to give you a bigger bite of the apple," said Antoine Leblond, a corporate vice … Read more

Microsoft to reveal details on its Windows 8 app store next week

Microsoft will share more information about its Windows 8 app store at a special event Tuesday.

Slated to take place in San Francisco, the two-hour Windows Store preview event should provide the latest details about the Windows Store to the invited developers and members of the press.

Microsoft has been mum about the Windows Store lately, but it did reveal some facts at its Build conference in mid-September.

Trying to outdo Apple's Mac App store, the Windows Store will let users download free trial copies of Metro-style apps to check out for a limited time. So developers won't … Read more

Skype Wi-Fi launches

Researchers say cell phone radiation may lower sperm count, AT&T cuts its texting plans down to one, and Skype launches an app for iOS that lets world travelers use Wi-Fi hot spots on a per-minute basis.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Microsoft lists 'App Store' as a Windows 8 feature

An app store is officially among the features Microsoft is working to include in Windows 8, much like Apple's App Store for OS X.

The revelation, which confirmed months of rumors, came today from Microsoft President Steven Sinofsky in a Building Windows 8 blog titled "Introducing the team." Among a list of teams associated with building the forthcoming operating system was "App Store."

Sinofsky said that work on the new OS is organized by feature teams, of which there are about 35, each containing 25 to 40 developers.

"Many of the teams listed below … Read more

8apps: Productivity and social networking come together

8apps is a suite of Web-based collaboration applications. It's got the look and feel of a site made for casual users but is aimed at small groups who need a place to get business and social networking done in the same place.

Right now there are only three applications to play around with, (Handshake, Orchestrate, and Blueprint) but five more are due out by this fall. The eventual goal is to have eight applications that can be used and managed from one place, kind of like what you get with Zoho's offerings, but more experimental.

Orchestrate and Blueprint … Read more