Windows 8 to feature an integrated App Store
App stores are all the rage these days. Pretty much every major mobile phone platform has an app store, as well as some third party app marketplaces. And there's a growing push to bring the model to desktop operating systems.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has confirmed plans to build an App Store directly into Windows 8, per reporting on April 11, 2011. What makes this more than a feature bullet is the arc the Liliputing piece sketches: every major mobile platform already runs an app store, and the marketplace model is now pushing into desktop operating systems.
First-order effects
- Windows developers gain a first-party distribution and payment channel inside the OS itself, ending the era where desktop software had no default storefront.
- Microsoft gains direct control over discovery, updates, and transaction fees for a slice of Windows software sales.
Second-order effects
- Rival desktop platforms face pressure to match an integrated storefront or cede the packaged-software channel to Microsoft.
- Third-party download sites and shareware distributors lose their role as the default way Windows users find software.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, desktop operating systems converge on the mobile model: curated storefronts as the primary software gateway, with platform owners taking a cut of distribution — a shift that reshapes how independent PC software reaches users.
The trend: App store economics pioneered on mobile phones are migrating into desktop operating systems, with Windows 8 as Microsoft's entry point.