Welcome to the Windows Store!
Launching concurrently with Windows 8 is the Windows Store, a place where you can discover and download Modern-style apps for the new OS. In this article, we highlight the key features of Microsoft's latest app storefront, getting desktop apps and managing your apps across multiple devices.
Welcome to the Windows Store
Ask any iPhone user why Apple's smartphone appeals to them, and we're pretty sure that the App Store will rank among the top reasons. Indeed, it's no coincidence that the two leading mobile OSes (Android and iOS) also have the world's two largest mobile app platforms. In the last couple of years, this app store concept has been making its way to other platforms, most notably, the desktop. In January 2011, Apple launched its Mac App Store. Come October 26, Microsoft will debut the Windows Store alongside its Windows 8 OS.
In Windows 8, the store is accessed via the Modern-style Windows Store app that's simply named 'Store' on your Start screen. When Microsoft made the Windows 8 Release Preview available, the store only had free apps; but ever since the OS has been released to manufacturing, more paid apps have started cropping up. We're sure the overall number will be a lot higher come October 26 when the OS becomes widely available.
The Store app is a typical Modern-style app, and that means it opens up full screen, and uses a tile layout with a bias for horizontal scrolling. If you've a mouse connected, you will notice a horizontal scroll bar across the bottom. Semantic zoom is fully supported, which lets you easily and quickly navigate from one end of the horizontal layout to the other.
The Windows Store app uses a single, chromeless windows that takes up the whole screen.
Semantic zoom is supported in the Windows Store to make presenting and navigating large sets of content in a single view easier.
If you've a mouse connected, you'd see a horizontal scrollbar at the bottom. Clicking on the dash button will activate the zoomed out view.
Finding Apps
Apps are grouped in easy-to-find categories such as Games, Social, Entertainment, Photos, Music & Video, Sports, Books & Reference, News & Weather, Health & Fitness, Food & Dining, Lifestyle, Shopping, Travel, Finance, Productivity, Tools, Security, Business, Education, and Government - that's a total of 20 categories! A few apps pertaining to each category are highlighted (and constantly refreshed) right on the main Store page, but you can also choose to browse each category sorted by top free apps and new releases. In addition, positioned at the very front of the Store is a category called 'Spotlight', which highlights some of the top apps across all the 20 categories. This Spotlight category has its own Top free and New releases sections as well.
Apps in a group are listed as rectangle tiles. At a glance, you can see their names, user ratings, and prices.
If you prefer to search directly for an app, you can do so by using the Search Charm (provided you know at least part of the name).
Know the name of the app? Use the Search Charm to find it quickly.
What if you just want to browse apps in a particular category sorted according to their prices, or release dates? Turns out, there's a way to do this somewhat. When you hit on a category name on the main store page, you'll be brought to an app listing with a few drop-down menus at the top. From here you can sort apps according to their price types (all prices, free, free and trial, paid), and prices (sort by lowest price, sort by highest price). You can also 'sort by noteworthy' (we've no idea what's the criteria for this), ratings, and release dates. For categories that allow it (such as Games), you can even sort by their subcategories.
Use the drop-down menus to sort the apps according to subcategories, ratings, prices, and release dates.
Installing & Buying Apps
Selecting an app will bring you to its app page, which gives you an overview of the app, as well as more detailed information and any user reviews. You will also see the price and size of the app. If it's a free app, you'll see a 'Install' button. If it's a paid app, you'll see a 'Buy' button. Either way, before it proceeds to download the app, Windows Store will prompt you to sign in to your Microsoft account. If you're buying an app and haven't already linked a credit card to your Microsoft account, you'll then be directed to a page where you can enter your credit card information.
The individual app view shows you more details about the app, such as what it does, release notes and supported processors, and user reviews. You can also install or buy the app from here.
Via the Settings Charm, you can access the 'Your account' page. Here, you can add a payment method and see the names of the PCs that you've installed apps on. You can install an app that you get from the Store on up to five PCs.
Major credit card types as well as PayPal are supported.
7-day Try Before You Buy
One of the key advantages the Windows Store has over other app stores is that it allows for trial apps. But not all paid apps allow for trials - it's up to developers. Trials apps are easily distinguished from the rest: there will be a 'Try' button next to 'Buy'. You're free to try an app for seven days, after which, you will be prompted to buy the app to continue using it. Of course, you can upgrade before the 7-day period is up - just go back to the app page in the Store and click on the Buy button. Alternatively, you may find the Buy option when you bring up the Settings Charm in the app.
With Windows Store, many apps offer seven day trial periods, letting you try an app before buying it.
On some apps, you can find the Buy option via the Settings Charm.
Compared to the Google Play store, which gives you 15 minutes to get a refund, and the iOS and Mac App Stores, which has no refund policy, the availability of trial apps is a major plus point for Windows Store. Paid apps on the Windows Store can range from a minimum (as set by Microsoft) of US$1.49 up to a maximum of US$999.99 (although we haven't seen one of that price yet). The US$1.49 lowest price point also means that there won't be US$0.99 apps in the Windows Store, unlike Google's and Apple's app stores. But like these other app stores, Windows Store apps may also offer in-app purchases (that is, products and features that a user can buy from within the app). For every app sold, Microsoft takes a 30% cut until the app reaches US$25,000 in sales; after which Microsoft will take a 20% cut.
This EMR Surface clinical documentation app from Pariscribe is the most expensive app we can find on the Windows Store so far. It costs US$499.99.
Desktop Apps in Windows Store
The advantage of Intel/AMD-based Windows 8 devices is that they can also use traditional desktop-based x86/64 apps (remember, ARM-based Windows RT devices will only run Modern-style apps). While you can pin a desktop app tile on the Start screen and launch it from there, it will actually open on your desktop like a regular program. Interestingly, you can find desktop apps on the Windows Store as well. However, if you want to install one of these apps, rather than a direct download like the other Modern-style apps, Windows Store will instead direct you to the publisher's website to download or buy it. A prime example is Microsoft's very own Office 2010. You can find it on the Windows Store, but to buy it, you've got to follow a link that brings you to the Office 2010 purchase page in Internet Explorer.
A desktop app tile in an app listing is styled slightly differently from a Modern-style app. For one, you don't see the price; in its place are the words 'Desktop app'.
Same as a Modern-style app, overview, details, and user reviews sections of a desktop app are present - but there's no direct install or buy button. Instead, there will be a link that brings you to the publisher's website on Internet Explorer.
Managing Your Apps
Once you've downloaded and installed an app, you'll find its tile on your Windows 8 Start screen. You can move the tile around by pressing and holding it, then moving it to the desired position. To see what you can do with the tile, swipe downward on it (or right-click on it, if you're using a mouse) to reveal the tile commands. As you can see from the screenshot below, you can uninstall an app right from the Start screen.
Swiping vertically across a tile reveals relevant tile commands at the bottom of the screen. For example, you can unpin it from the Start screen, or uninstall the app. For some apps, this is how you get the 'Run as administrator' option.
And as you might expect, all of your app purchases are tied to your Microsoft account. To see all the apps that you've bought from the Store, and which apps are installed on which device, just swipe down from the top edge of the screen in the Store, and tap 'Your apps'. A single Microsoft account entitles you to install an app on up to five PCs. Handily, this page also offers the ability to easily re-download any apps you've downloaded previously, either individually, or all at once.
The 'Your apps' page lists all the apps that you've bought from the Store, and which apps are installed on which device.
Ever noticed the number on the Store tile, or the number at the top right corner in the Store app? It tells you how many app updates are available.
No surprises here - you can choose to install updates one by one, or everything at a go.
You can re-arrange app tiles and place them in groups. And while you're at it, why not name the groups too?
Final Thoughts
In case you haven't realized by now, the Windows Store is the only place to get Modern-style apps. Why? In short, it boils down to security, performance, and privacy. For example, any Modern-style app that makes it to the Store has been screened for malware and checked for viruses. While an app can display ads, it can't just display ads and offer no other functionality beyond that. Microsoft also mandates that an app provides the same user experience regardless of the processor types it supports, be it an ARM-based processor, or an Intel or AMD processor. And get this: on a low-power device, such as an Ultrabook, a Modern-style app must launch in five seconds or less, and suspend in two seconds or less. For those interested, check out this documentation over at the Microsoft Dev Center on Windows 8 app certification requirements.
Naturally, the success (or not) of the Windows Store hinges greatly on the number of apps it has. The Next Web predicts it'll have 7,500 apps by October 26, and more than 10,000 by December. Is that enough? More importantly, how's the quality of these apps, and how many of them are big-name apps? While some may view such numbers as just bragging rights, there's no denying that the more apps an app store has, the odds of having a greater number of quality apps are also higher. And remember, the fact that Windows 8 can be installed on desktops as well as mobile devices such as tablets means that the Windows Store is both a desktop and mobile app store.
With just less than three days to go, we will soon find out how the store and apps variety tickle the interest of consumers.
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