Microsoft has re-launched the Windows Phone App Studio beta as Windows App Studio, opening the application development tool to Windows PC and tablet app creation.
The announcement comes days after the unveiling of universal Windows apps during the keynote of Microsoft’s Build developer conference on Wednesday, unifying Microsoft development platforms by allowing production of common apps across smartphones, tablets and PCs. Windows Phone developer experience manager Emilio Salvador Prieto announced the expansion of Windows App Studio beta in a blog post, detailing a new device preview mode that allows developers to toggle between different device views, as well as integration with Facebook.
(Related: Microsoft continues to Build on day 2)
The rebranded Windows App Studio beta, which first launched eight months ago solely for Windows Phone, also adds mobile website templates called WebApps, which allow developers to add native controls to wrap a mobile website into an app simply by entering the site’s URL. Windows Phone apps can also be reformatted as Windows PC or tablet apps using the updated beta.
No details have been released on when it will emerge from beta, but the Windows App Studio beta can be downloaded here.
