Microsoft plan to combine Windows and Windows Phone Store in a Single App

Microsoft is planning to combine its Windows Phone Store and Windows Store into a single app store. Sources familiar with the company's plans have revealed to The Verge that Terry Myerson, head of the operating systems group, confirmed the move in an internal company meeting today attended by thousands of Microsoft employees. We're told that Myerson committed to the "next releases" of Windows and Windows Phone, which we understand to be Windows Phone 8.1 and a special update planned for Windows 8.1. Both are due to be ready in spring 2014.

Myerson didn't reveal how the single Windows Store would work, nor whether Windows Phone apps will run on Windows in the new model. The Windows head previously publicly commented that he sees the future of Windows RT in phones and small tablets. "Windows RT was our first ARM tablet. And as phones extend into tablets, expect us to see many more ARM tablets, Windows ARM tablets in the future," said Myerson during a recent analysts meeting.

It's possible that Microsoft may take an approach that's similar to Apple's App Store, where tablet specific apps don't run on the phone, but phone apps scale to run on a tablet. Microsoft has long promised a "common app platform" between the two operating systems and Myerson said previously that "all of the apps we bring to end users should be available on all of our devices." If Microsoft is planning to make Windows Phone apps available on Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 devices then it's well positioned to have them run in a Snap View alongside tablet optimized apps. We'll know more with the "next releases" of Windows and Windows Phone.

Windows Phone Store hits 9 Million Daily Transactions

Microsoft has announced that its Windows Phone Store has surpassed nine million daily transactions, and has delivered some good news for its developer community.

Suggesting that its Windows Phone mobile operating system is finally starting to gain some traction, Microsoft put out a blog post on Friday boasting that it now sees nine million transactions every day at its Windows Phone Store. It is worth noting, however, that this accounts for both app purchases and in-app purchases.

Windows Phone Store GM Todd Brix wrote, "Since my last post we've surpassed nine million transactions per day, and Kantar reports that Windows Phone now accounts for one in 10 smartphones sales in Britain, France, Germany and Mexico."

The post wasn't just self-indulgent ramblings though, as Microsoft also delivered some good news for Windows Phone developers, revealing that it will no longer wait to receive app sales proceeds from mobile operators before issuing payment to developers. This means that developers will no longer have to wait 120 days or more for the money to arrive in their accounts, with Microsoft saying instead that payment should be received within 30 days.

Brix added, "This is an important change as we continue to add carrier billing connections. On average, developers are earning [three] times more revenue per active user in markets where carrier billing is offered. This increases to [six] times more revenue on average in emerging markets where credit card usage is more limited."

Of course, there had to be some bad news thrown in for good measure, too. Microsoft also noted in its post that its advertising team has recently joined forces with several third-party networks to bring additional ads to Windows Phone, which means that the company is going to push more adverts to its mobile operating system users.

Microsoft also said that it will offer targeted ads, but it claimed that users' information will not be shared with ad networks.

Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2294850/microsoft-says-its-windows-phone-store-has-hit-nine-million-daily-transactions

Huawei upcoming Windows Phone 8: Ascend W3 Leaked

Huawei introduce its first Windows Phone 8 with a name Ascend W3. Images of the third-generation Ascend W3 smartphone have been leaked confirming the presence with a slim metal design, and which will be available in blue and yellow color variants.

A Leaked photo has recently popped up and it is allegedly that of the Huawei Ascend W3, which as you can see in the photo above, is running on Windows Phone. The handset is expected to be a mid-ranged device but will apparently sport a metal design as well, which we have to say is a nice touch and is reminiscent of the Nokia Lumia 925.

The upcoming Windows Phone booting Huawei smartphone is rumored to sport a 4.5-inch display and measures of 132 x 67 x 10mm. It is also said that there's an 8 megapixel rear shooter at the back, capable of shooting 1080P FullHD (1920 x 1080) videos.

The handset is expected to be shown off at CES 2014 and hit the market in January that year.

Some source reports that the company is also working on a high end Windows Phone which is comparable to the Ascend D2 features, which features a 13 megapixel camera, 5 inch 1080P screen and 32 GB of storage. However no release date for this handset is know yet.

Upcoming Windows Phone 8 : Nokia Lumia 1520

Nokia is preparing to launch a Lumia 1520 Windows Phone 8. We got a brief look at the phone last month thanks to a leaked image. Nokia Lumia 1520 made yet another appearance. This time around, the handset emerged in a slew live photos, showcasing its hardware, and getting sized up against what appears to be a Sony Xperia Z1.

Lumia 1520 allegedly packs a giant giant 6-inch screen, 1080p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in memory, and a microSD card slot. There is no information on the camera of the device but could be a 20 MegaPixel, though, with its pronounced hump, it looks a lot like the snapper of the Nokia Lumia 925.

The rear of the device includes a camera with a hump that's similar to Nokia's Lumia 925, and it also matches a press render that leaked earlier this week. Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 8 update, known as General Distribution 3, can be seen running on the device with an additional column of Live Tiles on the Start Screen for 1080p resolution support.

*Nokia will be announcing its next Lumia smartphone on September 26.

Nokia Lumia 1520 - Photos (Official):

Temple Run now available for 512MB RAM Windows Phone 8 Devices:

The high profile game Temple Run is now available for the lower specification (512MB RAM) Windows Phone 8 devices (e.g. Nokia Lumia 520, 620, 720 and HTC 8S). When it was first released the game was only available for Windows Phone 8 devices with 1GB RAM (e.g. Nokia Lumia 920, 820, HTC 8X, Samsung ATIV S).

The latest updated for Temple Run (version 1.5.2) was made available late last week and the official Temple Run Twitter account noted that it included support for 512MB RAM devices. However, due to a problem with the Windows Phone Store, the new version was not initially available for download the lower spec devices. This download issue has now been resolved and the game is now available for all Windows Phone 8 devices.

The extended compatibility has be achieved thanks to optimisations within game and the Unity game engine that it runs on. The latter, a result of improvements being delivered as Unity for Windows Phone goes through its beta program, has significance beyond Temple Run.

A number of other high profile Unity powered games are also currently only available for higher specification devices, but the same optimisations suggest that memory related compatibility updates might also be made available for these titles. Just as importantly, it also suggests that most future Unity powered games will be available for all Windows Phone 8 devices.

The 512MB/1GB app and game divide remains one of the key reasons you might choose a high spec device (e.g. Nokia Lumia 820) over a low spec device (e.g. Nokia Lumia 720). Currently there are just over 300 apps and games in the Windows Phone store that are only compatible with 1 GB devices. While this is a much lower proportion that was the case for the 512MB/256MB divide on Windows Phone 7.5, there are a number of high profiles apps and games on this list. We'll be taking a more detailed look at this topic in a future feature.