Ever since the debut of Windows 11, back in the fall of 2021, Microsoft has asked developers to stay put for some big changes coming to the app store to make the marketplace more viable for them.
Today, at BUILD 2022, the company has come good on that promise.
Developers now have access to new promotion and discoverability opportunities that should help them put the experiences they create to more users going forward, and in turn increase their revenue and make more money.
As revealed by Giorgio Sardo, the General Manager of Microsoft Store, developers now have access to Microsoft Store Ads, Pop-Up Store experiences, new tools for PWA and Win32 developers, as well as app restoration, improved app telemetry, review and visibility tools.
Starting with the discoverability opportunities, developers can now have their apps indexed in the Windows Search tool, whereby not only will their solution be highlighted as a suggested app, but also one-click installs from the window can be utilized.
Depending on how Microsoft ends up putting this, this could well turn out to be a boon to developers who have long argued that the company is doing little to have their wares discovered organically.
We also have Pop-Up Store experiences that aim to wrangle the whole of the internet and turn it into a flea market of sorts to help developers promote any app tied to the Store on any website, while at the same time simplifying installs via a badge mechanism.
But the biggest news of the day for developers is the introduction of Microsoft Store Ads, which is simply Redmond figuring out how to deliver targeted ads for developers.
Basically, ads for event-related activities will surface key apps at the right time, so that end users can check them out or install them intuitively.
Developers will soon be able to create ad campaigns that leverages the Microsoft Advertising platform to curate audiences, context, and bidding to help promote their apps and games. In other words, this is simply the company unleashing the power of the Microsoft Ads platform to help developers.
Redmond plans to kick off a pilot program with a waitlist that developers can sign up, starting today.
