In its early days, the Microsoft Store (previously the Windows Store) was not so great, in part because it was full of low-quality tools. With Windows 11, Microsoft gave the store a major facelift, and today, at its annual Build developer conference, it's adding a number of new features to the store. Given where Microsoft as a whole is going, it’s no surprise that many of these new features center around AI. There’s a new section that highlights AI-centric apps, for example, new AI-generated review summaries and, coming soon, AI-generated tags in the partner center so developers can make their apps more discoverable.

Beyond these relatively minor changes, however, what's perhaps even more significant is that Microsoft is taking this chance to revisit the store with users. Much has changed in the world of Windows and the store-without, of course, that Windows users traditionally had a direct relationship with their software vendors, unmitigated by a central store-so I'm sure most bypass the store (I certainly forget it exists-it's also true for me at the Mac App Store).

With the launch of the store on Windows 11, the company made one key change-it opened the store to all apps, whether native apps, progressive web apps, Android apps or Flutter apps. According to Microsoft's general manager of the Microsoft Store, Giorgio Sardo, Microsoft also allows the app developers to either use its commerce platform or bring their own and keep 100% revenues.

We've been on this journey now for two years and it's interesting to reflect on how's that going so far," Sardo told me. "I'm quite excited. I'm proud of the momentum and the commitment we made to openness. I think that commitment to openness helps us create better products for end users and for the developers.

He noted that just in the last year, the number of Win32 and Progressive Web Apps in the store doubled and a number of important apps, including WhatsApp, Adobe Express, TikTok, Disney+ and SnapChat, are now available in the store. Sardo also noted that about 50% of users who buy a new Windows 11 device now use the store in the first 30 days.

Microsoft introduces the first thematic hub within the prominent left sidebar of the apps with this new AI hub. Apps in general, games and movies and TV shows remain there as options. The company now puts forth apps such as Luminar Neo, Lensa, Descript, Podcastle, and Copy.ai on this AI hub. Part of it is to piggyback on the overall hype around AI, but also to highlight the fact that these kinds of experiences are available in apps on Windows and not just in mobile apps and on the web.

This update also comes with some changes in Microsoft Store Ads, which developers can now also opt to show on Bing.com for relevant search results and which will soon expand beyond the U.S. and to 150 regions worldwide. In addition, they can now produce high-impact ads that will appear in the spotlight section of the Microsoft Store, that is to say in the large featured section at the top of the store. It supports video ads and therefore one of the most prominent surfaces for these ads. So far, the apps selected here were editorially chosen by the Store Team, but this gallery will now also contain ads.