'Collections'

Together with version 8 of Windows Phone presented a few days ago, Microsoft has been working on a series of improvements and new features for its application store , some of which have started appearing this week. The goal of those in Redmond continues to be to make it easier to discover and access new applications, while helping us manage our purchases and control the content we access in the Windows Phone Store

Increase application visibility

To improve app visibility, Microsoft has created a new section in its store called 'Collections'As their name indicates, these are made up of a group of six or more applications that share the same theme and are chosen by the store's editorial team. The applications displayed in each collection will vary depending on where and when we access it. For its implementation, the Windows Phone Store team has prepared 450 collections available throughout 19 countries, among which, this time, is Spain.

Another enhancement to help us with app discovery is a new list of personalized recommendations for each user. It works with the Bing engine, which had already been added in September to improve searches in the Store, and it shows recommended applications based on others that we have previously downloaded or searched for, or that our contacts from Facebook or another have installed. people with similar tastes.

More control options

To make it easier for us to purchase apps and help us control the payment methods we choose, Microsoft has added the option 'Wallet'to the Windows Phone Store. In our wallet, which we can protect with a PIN, groups the different forms of payment: credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, etc.; and all kinds of offers or coupons that we have available. All together and accessible directly from the purchase process, and can also be used for payments within the applications themselves.

If 'Wallet' helps manage our payments, the new 'My Family' option increases parental control over the content accessible in the Windows Phone Store. With the new options, parents can decide if their children can buy applications, when they can do it and what type of content and games they can access.This section thus joins the recently introduced Kid's Corner that allowed parents to keep separate experiences for their children on the same mobile. In addition, the option to report the application in case of inappropriate content has been added to each application page.

With these new features, Microsoft tries to continue promoting its mobile application store. Although still far behind the competition, Windows Phone Store continues to grow, adding more than 120,000 applicationsin 50 languages ​​across 191 countries and regions around the world.

More information | The Windows Blog