14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that the team working on the long-term evolution of the Xbox One is planning to revolutionize the way applications work on the home console in 2015 by opening up the platform to all those interested via a switch to universal apps which is supposed to take place in November.
Sources close to the company’s plans are telling The Verge that the first big step will be taken in April, at the Build conference that's dedicated to developers, where an announcement will be made.
A Software Development Kit preview and other tools will arrive in May, and apparently Microsoft also wants to introduce a new option to allow any Xbox One to become a development platform, something that was rumored before the device was launched but was never implemented.
Developers will be able to create code and then test their ideas using members of the community via beta programs, and it seems that all the new services will be able to run in the background.
Microsoft will continue to offer long-term support for the apps that are already available, but it is unclear what will happen to the small group of companies that currently have a monopoly on application creation on the home console.
It will be interesting to see whether the new Xbox One services will be required to also run on the coming Windows 10 operating system, given the current plans to integrate the two platforms as much as possible this year.
A new wave of apps can boost sales for the Xbox One
Microsoft’s big decision, if the rumors are to be believed, will be a great change for the home console space, where platform holders have long sought to keep tight control on the content that is being introduced.
The decision is probably motivated by the fact that the Xbox One needs to become more attractive to potential buyers, and having more applications can easily achieve this aim.
The device is lagging behind the PlayStation 4 from Sony when it comes to worldwide sales and recently it also lost the sales contest with its rival for the month of January in the United States.
Microsoft has already implemented a solid price cut and that means it needs new and innovative ways to increase the value offered by the Xbox One, which app liberalization can achieve.