If you’re currently subscribed to our RSS feed, we’ll automatically redirect posts from the new blog so you don’t miss a beat. And we’ll keep our existing blog posts right here so you can refer back to them easily.

I hope you’ll enjoy the Windows App Builder Blog—we’re looking forward to bringing you lots of great info about Windows 8.1 and how to be successful with your apps.

-- Ted Dworkin, Director of Program Management, Windows Store

One of the biggest challenges for all apps is continuing to engage with the user. Live Tiles allow you to make your app’s presence on the Start screen continually relevant, drawing customers back into the app and driving engagement. Let’s take a look at a number of apps and see how they each use Live Tiles in a way that helps users stay connected with the app.

For example, the ESPN app displays top headlines and photos.

Allrecipes displays scrumptious pictures of their great recipes.

The to-dos app is all about the live tile; to-dos are super simple to enter, and easily seen right on the start screen.

FX Networks teases upcoming shows.

Dictionary.com features the word-of-the-day, giving customers an extra reason to visit the dictionary.

SkyScanner shows a sampling of current flight deals.

And WeatherFlow has a gorgeous live tile that shows the current weather along with a five-day forecast.

Games are making great use of live tiles as well. For example, Jetpack Joyride entices customers to play by showing the next achievement they can unlock.

Each of these apps uses their Live Tile in ways that make customers want to use the app much more than a static icon would.

Live Tiles let you continually engage with users in a way that you simply cannot do on other platforms. It’s another great way that Windows 8 helps developers achieve their goals and delight their customers.

Inspired to add Live Tiles to your app? Download the Live tile sample to get started, and be sure to check out the guidance and examples on our Dev Center.

The online event begins on Saturday, June 15th, 10 am PDT, with a launch session and live chat. You’ll learn about different game types and how to add graphics, levels and sound to base games, while exploring ways to make the game your own. Support continues throughout the week with one-on-one assistance through the GameMaker forums.

Whether you’re a student, first-time developer or seasoned pro, this event will help you learn everything you need to create, upload, and publish a game to the Windows Store. Learn more, sign up, and check out the free tools and resources at the Game On Virtual Event site.

On the Windows Dev Center, we have a whole section of Resources for Android developers. You’ll find everything you need to get started building for Windows, including an API mapping tool that shows the Windows Runtime equivalents of common Android APIs.

Jennifer Marsman has also written up a great series of posts on her blog. The Windows Store opportunity for Android developers shows how you can make more money and expand your app’s reach by bringing it to another platform. She also covers some of the Windows 8 features that allow your app to shine in new ways, like Live Tiles and the ability to use roaming data. Jennifer has also provided her top 10 tips for passing Windows Store certification, specifically aimed at developers who are familiar with Android development. Finally, check out her detailed look at the Windows Store and Google Play. This comparison makes it easy to understand how each store handles things like revenue structures, pricing, business models, global availability, the certification process, and getting metrics on how your app is doing.

It’s a great time to get started porting your Android app and publish it in the Windows Store. Check out Apptivate 2.0, a Stack Overflow promotion sponsored by Microsoft. Sign up for App Builder and select the “Port Your Existing App” track for customized resources. Then develop the Windows 8 version of your app for an opportunity at the Grand Prize: a trip to Microsoft's sold-out Build Conference in San Francisco, June 26-28. Runners up will win a Surface Pro, or a one-year subscription for Microsoft Office 365. Visit http://apptivate.ms for official rules and details, and do it soon—to enter, your app needs to be accepted and listed in the Windows Store by June 7.

We hope these resources will help you reimagine your Android app and bring it to the Windows Store!

At the conference, we announced the Re-imagining Consumer Health with Windows 8 and HealthVault Challenge. This challenge, run by Health 2.0, offers over $15,000 in prizes to developers that create a Windows Store app leveraging Microsoft’s consumer health storage platform HealthVault. In addition to the cash prize, the winning developer is eligible for additional design, development and marketing support from Microsoft.

Need inspiration for app development? The Windows Dev Center contains design inspiration specifically for apps in the Health & Fitness category. Or if you’re interested in creating apps for healthcare providers and enterprises, there’s guidance and inspiration for those apps too. You can also check out seven great healthcare apps on the Windows Experience blog.

The challenge is open until June 30; read the complete rules here. And tell us about what you’re working on by tweeting with the hashtag #Win8Hack. Good luck with the challenge!

-- Ben Thompson, Partner Marketing Manager

Our Windows Store apps content has a tighter focus based on role and scenario, with new resources to help at all stages of the app development process. From hobbyists to creative agencies to the largest enterprise software developers, the new site organization helps you achieve your creative and business vision with Windows. And it’s available worldwide in 22 languages.

Check out the post on the Windows 8 app developer blog for more details on some of the key changes, and please let us know what you think!

"Content is at the heart of every successful organization. Customers need to access their content wherever they are. They need to share, they need to collaborate, they need to move their business forward. Box provides the solutions to let our customers do that."

Box's Windows Store app takes advantage of several unique Windows 8 features to better engage users while letting them get to their content from anywhere. Let’s look at how they did it.

Live tiles

Live tiles are a great way to alert me to activity that I probably want to know about, but don’t need to act on right away. This is more useful than seeing a simple number on the tile, but is less intrusive than getting a full-blown notification.

Box has a beautiful tile that updates to show new activity. In this case, I can easily see that a new agenda has been shared with me.

Semantic zoom

Semantic zoom lets me quickly get a high-level view of my content, and Box has a particularly good implementation.

I can activate semantic zoom by pinching the screen (or clicking in the lower right corner). In the example below, I was originally looking at an alphabetical listing of all my files. By invoking semantic zoom, I get a high level view and can quickly jump to any letter to drill down further. I also have the option to get the same view sorted by date or by size instead of alphabetically.

Semantic zoom lets you expose more content to your users, driving deeper engagement and increasing the time spent with your app. Plus, it's really cool.

File picker

One of the unique features in Windows 8 is the ability to let apps expose their content to other apps through the file picker. This becomes particularly important for an app like Box. Certainly I can access my files from within the Box app, but sometimes I need access to my files from other apps.

For example, suppose I want to attach some files from Box to an email I’m composing. Instead of having to switch to the Box app and start a new email from there, I can simply hit the Attachments icon in Mail. This brings up the picker, which gives me a list of locations on my hard drive, plus the option to choose from apps that have implemented the file picker contracts. I choose Box, choose my files, and click attach.

Access to the file picker makes Windows Store apps significantly more powerful for many productivity-based scenarios. According to Simon Tan, mobile product manager for Box, "What's really exciting about our app on Windows 8 is that we have the ability to plug into the actual file system on Windows 8."

By building a well-designed app that takes advantage of unique Windows 8 functions, Box helps their customers be more productive, which in turn helps drive engagement and satisfaction.

-- Ben Thompson, Partner Marketing Manager

You’ll get to hear from partners like Hitcents, Aviary, Qubop and Busy Bee Studios as they share their experiences and best practices developing apps that take full advantage of the Windows 8 platform. There are also sessions especially for developers with iOS or Android experience, as well as information about different ways to make money with your app. Check out the full list of sessions and sign up today!

Great design

The notion of a well-designed app encompasses a lot of different dimensions, from the app’s user model and behavior on the platform to elements of app aesthetics and personality. We look to highlight apps that embrace our design guidance, which helps customers get the most from your apps. We’re particularly excited to feature apps that do a great job implementing Windows Store app features such as:

• Charms and contracts (Settings, Search, Share)
• Placing commands in the app bar
• Detecting orientation changes
• Providing snapped and fill views

When planning your app, review the Microsoft design principles on our Dev Center when deciding the best way to include these features in your design. These topics cover core app design principles as well as approaches to navigation, commands, branding and other elements of user experience.

If you’re looking for a hands-on experience, we run App Labs and events around the world so you can get expert help on your app’s specific behavior and user experience. New events are scheduled all the time, so check here for the latest, including the upcoming App Builder Virtual Summit on May 2nd.

Now let’s take a look at two apps that we’ve featured before and consider how each takes advantage of the design guidance. Each makes great use of the Windows 8 features: eBay (in fill view) showing filtering and sorting controls on the app bar, and KEXP Artist Discovery (in snapped view) where you can see what’s playing, pause or restart audio, and click to get more info about songs, shows, and events.

In addition to the design, we also consider the quality of the app’s behavior on the platform, its responsiveness, and overall performance when we look to showcase.

Presentation and appeal

How you present your app in the Windows Store and the breadth of the app’s appeal are also important considerations for us. When looking for apps to feature, we choose high-quality apps that we expect will have a broad appeal in their market.

Offering unique value in terms of subject matter, functionality, and design expression is a great way to get noticed. Your app’s description should be engaging, clear, and immediately show customers what this app can do for them.

The app also needs to have great promotional images. These are not required for publishing your app to the Store, but they are a requirement for us to be able to consider featuring your app. Take time to design a great promotional image that we can use to help introduce your app to potential customers.

Beyond promotional images, you’ll also want to make sure that you use attractive screenshots that show off what your app can do. Here’s an example from an app we’ve featured before, Sudoku Free. This shows one of several screen shots that don’t just demonstrate how the app works, but also highlight many of its features.

For more examples of what we look for, open the Windows Store and check out any of the apps that are currently featured in the Spotlight section. These apps generally have nice screenshots and clear descriptions, and deliver a great experience.

Technical considerations

Aside from the overall app quality, there are a few additional considerations that can affect our decision to feature an app. Keep these in mind as you build your app.

• The app should run across all Windows 8 platforms (ARM, x86, and x64).
• If you want to offer a paid version of your app, or if you want fee-based options, use the platform’s built-in trial or in-app purchase capabilities. This will help customers and help your conversion rate. Don’t offer a free version separate from a paid version.
• Given the diversity of Windows customers, we take extra precaution when considering promotion for apps that are age-rated 16+. Store policy requires that all promotional content be rated no higher than 12+, independent of the app’s age rating.

There are so many great apps coming into the Windows Store each day and it’s a privilege to showcase them and see app builders succeed on Windows. Hopefully, this post provides some insight into how your next app could become a featured app in the Store.

--Ted Dworkin, Partner Program Manager for the Windows Store

Today, a few startups showed onstage how their inspiration came alive on Windows 8, and launched new apps in the Windows Store: KinectHealth, a mobile fitness studio app, TouchMail, a modern e-mail app, and Envvied, an app where fashion meets shopping.

KinectHealth

Last year, Bob Summers, who has been programming since he was just eight years old, was looking for a way to stay motivated in his mission to stay active and lose weight. He wanted a solution that offered a variety of training programs, the ability to track progress over time, and help in keeping motivated with encouragement from his workout buddies. Eight months later KinectHealth was born. Think of the KinectHealth app as your mobile fitness studio.

Exclusively available on Windows 8 and powered by Azure Mobile and Media Services, KinectHealth helps you achieve your fitness goals with a variety of fresh workout videos, a fitness progress tracker, and a buddy system using TimeFit technology to bring others into your online studio via webcam. The diverse device support for Windows 8 also means that you can exercise with the device and screen size that works best for you, whether it is your PC, tablet, or all-in-one.

KinectHealth takes advantage of unique Windows 8 features like the Share charm, enabling you to share your fitness progress with family and friends. You can also keep track of your workouts with biometric data gathered through your webcam and share workout videos, goals, and progress with your Xbox or networked TV. With KinectHealth’s use of live tiles, you can keep your workouts fresh when new workout videos are available.

KinectHealth has already signed up a number of popular trainers including Amanda Russell, YouTube’s Next Fitness Personality with over 35 thousand subscribers and over 2.2 million views. KinectHealth is free to download in the Windows Store with the option to purchase a subscription for $14.99 per month, which gives you access to 24 new workout routines every month.

TouchMail

If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time with email. Trying to catch-up on mail after being out of the office, quickly searching and finding mail items, or simply keeping my inbox organized; it seems like the email deluge is never ending.

With more and more email activity occurring on mobile devices, Seattle-based startup TouchMail Inc. had an idea to help make email more productive and visually compelling on mobile, touch-based devices. The result of this idea and their work is an app that brings a uniquely visual and intuitive touch email experience to Windows 8.

With TouchMail, you search in the same way that you naturally scope information while you think, with filters such as people, attachments and priority. A quick touch on my boss’ profile picture and I can quickly see all the messages he’s sent me.

The app’s signature Horizon View feature, organizes mail items in a visual way, letting you see patterns and priority items that you wouldn’t normally notice in a list view. Moreover, one-touch delete, color-coded messages, and profile pictures make managing your inbox easy. TouchMail is a great example of how apps can help you be more productive, whether using touch on a tablet or mouse and keyboard on a PC.

Envvied

Envvied is also at the show in the Microsoft booth and is available right now in the Windows Store. This app marries fashion news and community with an interactive component that lets you shop for the latest trends on the web for the best price.  Using this visually rich app, you can also submit pictures of your favorite fashions and have the Envvied community help you find the stores that carry the clothes you want. The team at Envvied is thrilled about the opportunity to get into the Windows Store early.

Windows 8 QuickStart Kits

We hope that these apps have inspired you and that you want to get started. If you already have Windows 8, head over to WindowsStore.com to get more information on how to get started creating your own apps for Windows Store. If you run a Mac, we’re making it a little easier with the Windows 8 QuickStart Kit. The Windows 8 QuickStart Kit is the latest program we’ve built with Parallels to enable iOS app builders and designers to build apps for Windows. To celebrate the opportunities for startups on Windows 8, we’re extending our initial QuickStart offer with 10,000 more Windows 8 QuickStart Kits for app builders to get access to the tools they need to bring their app to Windows.

The kit includes a Windows 8 Pro, Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac , and iOS to Windows porting support from top engineers. We’re offering 1,000 Windows 8 QuickStart Kits online today to iOS app builders. To get the Windows 8 QuickStart Kit, go to http://swishdemo.com/details/demo-devkit, to answer a few questions, pass our developer puzzle, and donate $25 to code.org, Khan Academy or Watsi.org.

We are offering an additional 10,000 kits at various app builder events throughout the year . Check here for a list of upcoming events in the U.S. or here for international locations.

The QuickStart offer is just one example of our programs that focus on helping entrepreneurs and startups get support and start building for Windows. With more than 50,000 startups from 100 countries in the program, BizSpark provides software, support, visibility and community to promising startups and visionary entrepreneurs at no charge. Through BizSpark, you gain access to a global community of advisors, investors and partners as well as Microsoft software and services.

So what is your next big idea? We’d love to see it come alive on Windows 8!

--Ben Thompson, Partner Marketing Manager