Microsoft was rumored to unify Windows Phone and Windows for a while now, but they’re taking serious steps in that direction, apparently. There’s a leak shown below showing an Universal Store app for Windows and Windows Phone simultaneously.
The plans to consolidate Windows Phone and Windows RT date from the first moments when MS figured out that the RT thing was a failure. We’ve heard rumors that they may become one in Windows Phone 9, but let’s not rush there yet. In the recent avalanche of Windows Phone 8.1 leaks, there was also a bunch of screenshots shown here.
These are slides probably from an official presentation, referring to Universal Store apps. Developers get the ability to create a single app that targets both Windows Phone and Windows. There are also some technical elements, like two separate Visual Studio UI projects, one for each of the subtly different user interfaces.
There’s also a second slide with common UI elements across WP and Windows, showing that 80% of the XAML can be shared. We’ll learn more at BUILD in April.
