Microsoft is reportedly getting ready to combine its Windows and Windows Phone app stores into a single entity, potentially leading to more apps and fewer headaches for users of both platforms.
Terry Myerson, head of Microsoft's operating systems group, talked about this grand unification during a company meeting, according to The Verge. Paul Thurrott and ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley corroborated the story.
However, there seems to be some confusion as to when the stores will combine. Foley and The Verge's Tom Warren both claim that the unified store will launch in the spring, alongside Windows Phone 8.1 and an update for Windows 8.1. Thurrott says the unified store will happen "with the next release of Windows, or what we might call Windows 9."
In any case, Microsoft has not made a secret of its desire to combine the two app stores. As Foley notes, Myerson has talked about having a common set of developer tools across all Microsoft devices. "We should have one set of developer APIs on all of our devices. And all of the apps we bring to end users should be available on all of our devices," Myerson said during a financial analyst meeting last week.
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