Until now, developers had to code their app twice to bring it out on Windows Phone and Windows 8. Microsoft has made their lives a lot easier by unveiling universal Windows apps that will allow developers to create a single app that will work on Windows and Windows Phone. The company will later be adding support for Xbox One as well in the future.
With universal Windows apps developers won’t have to do the tedious task of recoding their apps. They will be able to test their apps on both Windows and Windows Phone emulators and make cosmetic changes accordingly to look best on the different screen sizes. What’s more, the move will also allow users to purchase a single app that’ll work across all platforms. For example, to play Halo: Spartan Assault on your smartphone, tablet and Xbox, presently you need to buy it three times. That won’t be the case in the future, but then, that’s up to the developers to decide.
With Microsoft’s goal to unify Windows Store and Windows Phone Store, universal Windows apps seems like the first step in that direction. It should also see more timely release across Windows Store and Windows Phone Store, since there won’t be much of a rework on developer’s end.