Signs of app subscriptions begin to show up in the Windows store

Microsoft’s Windows 10 store has been scheduled to getcontent subscription capabilities for over a year now. Not unlike the play’s store ability to offer subscriptions for app content using the same infrastructure as IAPs, Microsoft plans to allow users to subscribe to say news content via a news app using the Windows store alone.

While Microsoft has announced this feature prior to the launch of Windows 10 for PCs, saying the following:

In-app purchase capabilities will be expanded with Windows 10 to include a recurring billing, or subscription, option that will enable the Windows Store to sell subscription-based content using Store billing systems. Useful for content and productivity services, among others, this subscription capability will support the Windows Store consumer payment methods in most markets with developer-configurable time periods. Watch for more information in this blog as we get closer to launch

Despite that, precious little ink has been spilt on the feature to the extent it was all but forgotten about. However, in recent builds of the Windows 10 store, Microsoft’s subscription feature has finally made its first public, non-slide, appearance. Keen eyed Windows Insiders will notice that the Windows store now includes a subscription option in search filters when a search for media or app content is initiated, theoretically allowing users to view subscriptions applicable to their search query.

However, as the feature hasn’t been officially launched yet, there are no subscriptions to be seen upon selecting the filter as shown in the screenshots below.

Despite that, even though Microsoft’s Windows store isn’t as capable for developers and users as Apple’s Apps store or the Google Play store, Microsoft is catching up to them quickly in terms of features, if not app quality and quantity.

The  next step for Microsoft here is likely to imitate Apple and Google’s recently announced app subscriptions and lower fees for developers in order to maintain the competitive nature of the Windows store.