Microsoft working on unified app platform across its operating systems

Microsoft may soon have a common platform for apps across its operating system ecosystems.

Microsoft uses a common interface style across its operating systems on Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox, but the company has yet to unify its app ecosystem. That could soon change, however, according to statements made by the man now overseeing the company's operating systems.

At the company's financial analyst meeting Thursday, Terry Myerson, who was recently named the head of Microsoft's operating systems division, implied Microsoft may soon work toward a common app platform for all its operating systems.

In outlining his "three key beliefs" for how Microsoft's operating systems should work, Myerson said the company's operating system groups have been working together for the past two months.

"The first of those [beliefs] is that we really should have one silicon interface for all of our devices," he said. "We should have one set of developer APIs on all of our devices. And all of the apps we bring to end users should be available on all of our devices."

Myerson went on to say apps should be tailored to a specific device, noting that Microsoft wants "to facilitate the creation of a common – a familiar – experience across all of those devices, but a fundamentally tailored and unique experience for each device." Microsoft already has several APIs in place that are shared across its operating systems, though Myerson said the company "should have one set of developer APIs on all of our devices."

One of the main criticisms of Microsoft's mobile strategy has been the lack of a common store between Windows tablets and Windows Phone products. While Myerson didn't say outright that a unified store would come to its operating systems, his statements seemed to foreshadow its inevitability.

Another point Myerson made was the importance of cloud services in the company's apps and operating systems. Microsoft will use its Azure cloud computing infrastructure more heavily going forward, he said.

Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft