Microsoft's 'Universal Store' apps detailed in leaked images
New images describe Microsoft's upcoming effort to help developers create single apps geared for both Windows and Windows Phone.
A new round of leaked images suggest an easier process ahead for developers who create software for both Windows and Windows Phone.
Served up on Twitter by tech news leaker @AngelWZR, one of the slideshow images, allegedly snagged from Microsoft, details an upcoming initiative dubbed "Windows Store" apps. As described in the slide, developers will be able to create a single app to target both Windows Phone and Windows.
A single Visual Studio "Shared Solution" template can serve both versions of Windows, triggering two Visual Studio projects for each version and two installation packages for submission to the Windows Phone Store and the Windows Store. Shared development and testing tools will also be able to handle both versions.
A second leaked slide called "Converged UI Controls" reveals that Windows and Windows Phone will share a number of common elements in their respective user interfaces. That means developers can use 80 percent of the same XAML code between both versions, further shortening their development time.
Assuming these images are legit, the information comes on top of recent leaks from the Windows Phone 8.1 Software Development Kit that show a growing convergence between Windows Phone and Windows RT.