Having an Xbox Music Pass subscription — or an account for any music app for the Xbox One — will finally mean you’re able to play music without having to have a portion of your screen taken up by the app itself.. That’s just one of the new bits of information we’re learning about Microsoft’s plans for universal Windows apps on the Xbox One.
A new report from The Verge includes all the details about Windows Universal apps on the Xbox One. According to the report, Xbox One owners will get the option to morph the console they’ve purchased at a retail location, into a development kit. Once introduced, Microsoft will allow just about anyone to create their own Xbox One apps based off the same platform Microsoft plans to use for notebooks, desktops and tablets running Windows 10. Allegedly, the plan is to fully detail the development experience at the BUILD 2015 conference in April before rolling out the massive changes and new app store this November. Included in the platform enhancements is also the ability for apps to play and stream audio in the background.
Shortly before the Xbox One launched in 2013, Microsoft announced the ID@Xbox program. Today that program only lets a small subset of independent developers create games for Xbox One. At the time, Microsoft said that eventually every Xbox One would have development capabilities. As such, independently developed game development isn’t a big surprise. Independent app development is new though. If Microsoft delivers, the company could be the first to crack living room computing, a market that’s alluded it for years. In theory, easier app development means more apps. That the entire Windows 10 ecosystem and the Xbox One will have a unified app framework shouldn’t hurt enthusiasm either.
The BUILD 2015 event kicks off on April 29th and last through May 1st. Presumably, we’ll hear more details about Windows 10 apps all through that event.
