UPDATED 23:21 EST / NOVEMBER 05 2015

NEWS

Microsoft teases its Windows Store for Business

Almost a year after it first unveiled plans for a dedicated business app store, Microsoft is prepping the release of its Windows Store for Business for Windows 10. The Redmond-based firm will first introduce the store to those who’ve signed up for its Windows Insider program, but there’s no concrete release date yet.

Microsoft provides some background on a new Web page for the service, explaining that the new store is designed to make it easier for IT admins to make applications available to company employees, without those apps needing to be submitted to the consumer Windows Store. Instead, users will be able to access enterprise apps through a private store.

The store will also make it easier for organizations to acquire and distribute enterprise apps, with features for tracking licenses and support for offline-licensed applications.

“Quickly and easily find the right apps for your teams. Acquire apps individually or in volume,” Microsoft said in its description of the Windows Store for Business. “Manage your organization’s inventory of apps in one place. You can assign, reclaim, or reassign licenses as well as control updates.”

Previously, Microsoft execs have said that Windows 10 business apps can be managed via the System Center Configuration Manager, Intune and various mobile device management services, ZDNet‘s Mary Jo Foley reported. Eventually, IT managers will be able to sign in with an organization account such as an Office 365 or Azure Active Directory account.

Microsoft adds in its blurb that it’s hoping IT managers will “Invite in-house or external developers to write and submit private line of business apps to your app inventory.”

Those willing to test out the new store can sign up for today. Rumor has it the Store will be made available in a soon-to-be-released Windows 10 upgrade, possibly later this month. However, Microsoft has refused to confirm anything other than the existence of its new web page so far.


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