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Over the next 12 months, Google’s Android operating system will become the favorite platform among mobile developers, according to research firm Ovum. Nearly all developers, however, will support both mobile platforms. While Apple’s iOS and Android have long been the favorites, Ovum said there is growing developer interest in both Windows Phone and BlackBerry operating systems. “The growing momentum behind Windows Phone indicates that Microsoft has managed to convince developers that its platform is worthy of investment; its challenge now is to persuade consumers,” said Ovum analyst Adam Leach. The research also showed that developers are moving away from traditional mobile development applications such as Java and Flash. Developers are instead focusing their efforts on the web-based HTML5 standard, which is becoming the preferred approach to building cross-platform applications. “A smartphone platform’s success is dictated not only by the pull of consumers and the push of both handset vendors and mobile operators but also a healthy economy of applications delivered by third-party developers,” said Leach. “Therefore, it is important for all players in the smartphone ecosystem to understand the choices developers are making today and the downstream impact of those choices.”

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Microsoft recently revealed a number of details on its Windows 8 Windows Store, an application storefront that will launch in February in tandem with Windows 8 Beta. Microsoft corporate vice president Antoine Leblond explained that developers will receive 80% of all revenues from applications sold after earning $25,000 in revenue, before which developers will receive a 70% cut. Apple, by contrast, offers developers 70% of app revenues. Microsoft is also taking a different approach to subscription models. The Daily Telegraph, for example, will offer a subscription option to its daily newspaper but will use its own existing authentication system to allow its users to log-in. Apple and Google typically force developers to use proprietary subscription systems. Read on for more.

“Lots of apps already have business models that depend on a particular transaction provider or that benefit from ties to other lines of business,” Ted Dworkin, partner program manager for Windows 8 Windows Store explained in a blog post. “Customers of those businesses want the trust and efficiency of a familiar, trusted transaction experience.” Developers can also choose “whatever ad platform they prefer, whether it’s from Microsoft or someone else.” Microsoft recently published its app certification policies and said that its goal is to be transparent by using “plain language” in its approval process and that it will provide feedback to developers whose apps are rejected.The Windows 8 Windows Store will have a global reach, allowing software companies to publish applications in 231 markets and in more than 100 languages.

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We’re live from Spotify’s New York City press conference where CEO and founder Daniel Ek took the stage to announce several new Spotify features, most notably applications. Ek confirmed that Spotify will launch a “truly integrated” application platform inside Spotify that will be “tailored to you and your user tastes.” Third party developers can easily build HTML5 apps using a simple API. The first generation of applications will be featured within the “Spotify platform.” Read on for more.

Examples of the capabilities apps might feature include the ability to automatically find song lyrics from a track that is currently playing, or the ability to find upcoming concert dates and locations without ever leaving Spotify. The company has partnered with Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard and more for additional applications. Rolling Stone, for example, will help users find new music and albums from staff recommendations and even essential daily playlists.

The application platform is just one way Spotify is adding an edge to its software in an effort to compete with services from Apple, Rhapsody, Google and Amazon. Spotify first launched in the United States in June and Ek said his company is adding more than 20,000 new tracks every day. It now has more than 10 million active users, 2.5 million of which are subscribers to its pay-for services. It’s so popular, in fact, that Ek said piracy has decreased by 25% since Spotify launched.

Spotify’s press release follows below.

Spotify: A Perfect Platform for Apps

Spotify, the largest and fastest-growing music service of its kind, today opens up a new world of possibilities with Spotify Platform.

Spotify Platform gives third party developers the opportunity to build innovative, engaging music-based apps. To us, it’s the next big step in musical enjoyment.

These free apps integrate beautifully with Spotify, both visually and functionally, and can be accessed and shared by millions of Spotify users through the new App Finder, launching today as a preview at www.spotify.com/us/download/previews/

The first generation of Spotify Apps features 16 partner apps, with 12 available from launch today. We’ve been lucky to partner with some of the brightest and best brands in the world to create engaging, fun, and social apps.

The 13 global partners launching on the Spotify App Finder include Billboard, Fuse, The Guardian, Last.fm, Moodagent, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Songkick, Soundrop, TuneWiki and We Are Hunted, with Top10 and ShareMyPlaylists apps coming soon. We also have three Nordic partners launching local apps, including Tunigo in Sweden which launches today, Gaffa in Denmark and Dagbladet in Norway, which will be launching local Nordic apps soon.

Our integration with Facebook in September has made more people than ever excited about sharing music again, adding more than 7 million new Spotify users in just over two months. And our users have now created more than 500 million playlists, a number which has doubled since just July.

With Spotify Platform, we want to enable innovation on top of music and add many more layers of music enjoyment. We want DJs to create the best lists, and virtual clubs where people can gather together to hear them, dance, and sing along. We want fans to get closer to their favorite artists, and give great editorial partners and tastemakers a way to recommend music to you.

It’s also what Spotify users have been asking for. Now anyone can enjoy great music reviews, buy tickets for gigs, sing along with the lyrics, all inside Spotify. In addition, you can curate the apps you want and make Spotify yours… and the launch apps are just the beginning.

Music is many things to many people. With Spotify Platform and a whole bunch of clever apps, we hope we can all get more out of music than ever before.

Speaking at the conference, Spotify CEO and Founder Daniel Ek commented:

“Once you take a look, you’ll see why we believe this is truly the beginning of something game-changing for digital music. We think this will lead to integrations that keep Spotify beautiful and simple, but layer in great musical experiences designed to be social and fun. It’s what our users have been asking us for.”

Spotify Platform beta goes live later today as a preview, at:  www.spotify.com/us/download/previews/. For more information about the apps please visit www.spotify.com/apps. The full consumer rollout will take place later in December.

Apple just started seeding iOS 5.1 moments ago to iOS developers. The new build is available for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and third and fourth-generation iPod touch devices. We’ll let you know if this new release further fixes battery life and if we find any other changes. Apple’s full change log for this release follows below.

Notes and Known Issues

The following issues relate to using the 5.1 SDK to develop code.

Apple began seeding OS X Lion 10.7.3 to developers on Tuesday. In its release notes, Apple said there are no known issues and that the update focuses on iCloud document storage, AddressBook, iCal and Mail. As is typical, developers who choose to upgrade will not be able to revert back to the previous build after updating to OS X Lion 10.7.3. Apple’s full release notes follow after the break.

OS X Lion 10.7.3 build 11D16 Seed Note

OS X Lion Update 10.7.3 is an update to OS X Lion 10.7.

Installation Instructions

The OS X Lion 10.7.3 Update (Combo) updates

- OS X Lion 10.7, 10.7.1 or 10.7.2 GM builds.

The OS X Lion 10.7.3 Update (Delta) updates

- OS X Lion 10.7.2 GM builds.

Please be aware that you will not be able to revert back to your previous system after updating. Please install this update on a system you are prepared to erase if necessary.

Known Issues

- None

Focus Areas

- iCloud document storage

- AddressBook

- iCal

- Mail

Bug Reporting 

This build is being provided to you for testing and development purposes. Should you encounter any problems, please submit a bug report using the online Bug Reporter at <http://bugreporter.apple.com/>. Please make sure to include “10.7.3 (11D16)” in the bug title and description. This information will ensure that your bug is processed quickly.

When submitting a bug report, please make sure to include a Summary, Steps to Reproduce, Actual Results, Expected Results, the System Profile Report, and any other relevant information that is necessary to process the report.

IMPORTANT: Engineering requires additional information for crashing bugs, kernel panics, and hanging issues.

Crashing Bugs: Crash logs are required for crashing bugs. Crash logs can be located in ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

Kernel Panics: Backtraces, which contain vital information for investigating kernel panics, are required for kernel panic issues. Backtraces can be saved to nvram on restart shutdown, then copied to the panic.log file on restart. The panic.log file can be found in /Library/Logs/PanicReporter.

Hanging Issues: When an application is hung, a Sample should be provided. This can be done using the Activity Monitor (/Applications/Utilities/). To generate a Sample using this utility, click on the hung application name, then from the View Menu select “Sample Process”.

Developers are now more compelled to build apps for Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system than for RIM’s aging BlackBerry OS, new research from Appcelerator and IDC revealed Monday. “The third major mobile OS after iOS and Android is now clearly Windows [Phone], driven largely by the Microsoft/Nokia partnership and underscored by the new Nokia Lumia 800,” IDC vice president of mobile and connected consumer platforms Scott Ellisson explained. 38% of survey respondents said they are “very interested” in Windows Phone, which IDC noted is the greatest amount of interest in the platform ever for Microsoft. The same can’t be said for RIM. Only 21% of developers said they were “very interested” in developing for BlackBerry OS and just 13% said they were “very interested” in creating QNX-based apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Read on for more.

Apple’s iOS continues to be the most attractive mobile OS for developers. 91% of those surveyed said they are “very interested” in iPhone development and 88% are just as excited to create apps for the iPad. In addition, the report, which compiled survey responses from 2,160 developers around the world, found that developers are quite excited to create new Android applications for the Amazon Kindle Fire.

“Findings reveal that Amazon’s new Kindle Fire edged Samsung’s Galaxy Tab as the number one most popular Android Tablet in North America, on par with interest for the iPad prior to its launch in April 2010, and second only to the Galaxy Tab globally with developers,” the study said. 49% of North American developers surveyed said they were “very interested” in the Kindle Fire.

The survey also suggests that overall developer interest in Android is fading a bit. 83% were “very interested” in developing Android apps for smartphones, down 4 percentage points from the last survey. 68% were “very interested” in creating apps for Android tablets, down 6 points from the last survey. The full press release from Appcelerator and IDC follows below.

Appcelerator–IDC Mobile Report Finds Amazon Kindle Launching as Leading Android Tablet for Developers in North America

14 Nov 2011

Survey of 2,160 Developers Sees Kindle Fire Interest on Par with iPad in April 2010; Microsoft Moves Decisively Ahead of RIM Through Nokia Partnership to Challenge Apple

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – November 14, 2011 – Appcelerator, the leading integrated mobile platform for rapidly developing native and HTML5 mobile Web applications using open Web technologies, and industry-leading analyst firm International Data Corporation (IDC), today announced results from a new joint survey of 2,160 Appcelerator developers around the world. Findings reveal that Amazon’s new Kindle Fire edged Samsung Galaxy Tab as the number one most popular Android Tablet in North America, on par with interest for the iPad prior to its launch in April 2010, and second only to the Galaxy Tab globally with developers. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 also decisively moved ahead of RIM’s BlackBerry OS to become the clear number three mobile OS behind iOS and Android.

Appcelerator and IDC also continued their research into how companies are making the move from the Web to mobile. This quarter the report dives deep into understanding the priorities companies are making with their mobile strategy and how mobile is fundamentally transforming customer relationships. The full report is available free for download:http://appcel.us/q4_2011_report.

“The third major mobile OS after iOS and Android is now clearly Windows, driven largely by the Microsoft/Nokia partnership and underscored by the new Nokia Lumia 800,” noted Scott Ellison, vice president, Mobile & Connected Consumer Platforms at IDC. “Amazon has shown exceptional early success in appealing to developers with the Kindle Fire showing that price and differentiation are keys to competing in the crowded Android tablet space, rather than simply chasing the iPad market.”

The Rise of Amazon, Microsoft, and Samsung … and an Improved Outlook for Nokia

As the mobile industry advances, contenders are finding success by securing new footholds and partnerships to compete against Apple’s dominance. Amazon announced the Kindle Fire, a smaller, cheaper Android-based tablet that leverages its large content library while Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is building strong European developer enthusiasm thanks to its Nokia partnership. Developers and businesses gave high marks to these moves, which contrast sharply against BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry’s QNX-based PlayBook, and webOS, all of which collapsed in interest with developers this past quarter. Below are the topline findings from this quarter’s report:

• Amazon’s new Kindle Fire ignites developer interest. When surveyed among 15 Android Tablets, the low-cost, content-rich eReader was second only to the Samsung Galaxy Tab globally in developer interest. A regional breakdown shows Amazon edging Samsung in North America for the top slot. At 49% very interested in North America, the Kindle Fire is just 4 points less than where interest was in the iPad prior to its launch in April 2010.

• Appcelerator and IDC found in January 2011 that among developers price was the single most important factor for Android Tablets to compete successfully against the iPad. Fast forward to November and developers cite price again as the leading reason for interest in the Kindle Fire. Rounding out the top 5 tablets, respondents eye Amazon’s rich content ecosystem, Appstore, target demographic, and eCommerce integration as the key reasons for interest in the new eReader.

• When considering Kindle Fire’s potential drawbacks, fragmentation and lack of features like camera and geo-location were the two top concerns cited by developers.Assuming Amazon sells well this holiday season, Android developers will need to consider yet another set of different capabilities. The difference this time? Google will be less able to exert control over Amazon’s divergent Android path.

• Windows Phone 7 separated from the pack to become the clear number 3 mobile OS this quarter. The OS climbed 8 points to 38% of respondents saying they are “very interested” in the platform — the highest ever for Microsoft.

• Microsoft is enjoying symbiotic success with Nokia. When asked why developers are more interested in Windows Phone 7 now than a year ago, a plurality (48%) are saying it is the Microsoft/Nokia partnership. Nokia also received high marks for its new Lumia Windows Phone 7 smartphone announcement last month. Twenty-eight percent of developers said they are “very interested” in developing for the device. This is more than double the interest in Nokia’s own Symbian and MeeGo OSes since Appcelerator began reporting mobile platform interest in January 2010.

• This quarter saw a sharp fall-off in developers reporting that they are “very interested” in RIM offerings with BlackBerry OS phones dropping 7 points to 21% and PlayBook QNX-based tablets dropping 6 points to 13%. Put another way, there is now more interest in Nokia’s new Lumia Windows Phone lineup than RIM’s smartphones.

• HTML5 continues to keep developer interest. Sixty-six percent of developers are very interested in building HTML5 mobile Web sites, the same as last quarter.

• Connected TV app development interest continues to slide. A year ago, 44% of developers were very interested in developing for Google TV. Even with a second version announced last month, only 20% expressed the same enthusiasm for Google TV this round. Apple TV, however, saw a smaller decline from 40% a year ago to 27% today.

• iOS continues to reign at number 1 with 91% of respondents saying they are very interested” in developing for the iPhone, followed by the iPad at 88%. Apple continued to hold onto its number 1 position in part due to iOS 5, which was cited as the most significant announcement this past quarter.

• Android phones fell nearly 4 points to 83% while tablets fell nearly 6 points to 68%. While the drop was likely due in part to renewed interest in iOS 5, developers nevertheless saw Samsung’s rise to the number 1 smartphone manufacturer as the second most significant development of the past quarter after iOS 5.

A Deeper Look at Mobile Priorities Across the Mobile Relationship Lifecycle

Over the past couple quarters, Appcelerator and IDC have been analyzing how businesses are making the move from the Web to mobile. Earlier this year, we discussed how companies were maturing through several phases of adoption. This quarter, we asked developers and businesses to rank 24 mobile objectives for their most recent application. We then clustered this analysis into what we call the “mobile relationship lifecycle” to define objectives in four areas: reach, engagement, loyalty, and monetization.

• Reach: Businesses view deploying to multiple devices with native applications and mobile websites as the number one priority. Making the transition more efficient by leveraging a company’s resources also ranked high.

• Engagement: Building applications that are easy to use with a native-user interface was the next most important objective, followed by application performance. Both are seen as key to driving engagement with users and echo the general sentiment that application utility is critical. These core concerns trumped even media, location and social features in priority.

• Loyalty: Application notifications and using analytics to measure application feature usage ranked in the middle of the pack for most respondents.

• Monetization: Advertising still trumps in-application purchasing as a preferred monetization model. When it comes to mobile commerce, the top priority is making payments easy.

A complete breakdown of these trends and a more detailed analysis is available online. To access the Appcelerator/IDC Q4 2011 Mobile Report, please visit: http://appcel.us/q4_2011_report.

About Appcelerator

Appcelerator is the leading enterprise-grade, cross-platform development solution on the market today, with over 1.6 million developers using its software to power over 30,000 cloud-connected mobile, desktop, and web applications used on 30 million devices every day. The company’s flagship offering, Appcelerator Titanium, is the only mobile cloud platform to enable fully native, cross-platform mobile app and HTML5 web development, from a single codebase. Appcelerator’s customers can leverage their existing skills and open, industry standard technologies to decrease time-to-market and development costs, increase customer adoption and revenues, and enjoy greater flexibility and control. For more information, please visitwww.appcelerator.com.

Apple has just seeded iOS 5.0.1 to developers for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices. Here are the changes, and most notably, Apple has confirmed that some users have experienced unideal battery life and iOS 5.0.1 should fix that:

iOS 5.0.1 beta contains improvements and other bug fixes including:

• Fixes bugs affecting battery life
• Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
• Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
• Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation
• Contains security improvements
• iOS 5.0.1 beta introduces a new way for developers to specify files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations.

Beginning January 1st, Google will start charging a fee to developers and websites that frequently access its Google Maps API service, BBC reported recently. Developers will apparently be charged $4 for every 1,000 views after Google Maps is accessed more than 25,000 times in a single 24-hour period. BBC said Google expects the changes will only affect 0.35% of its user base. “We understand that the introduction of these limits may be concerning,” Google Maps product manager Thor Mitchell said. “However, with the continued growth in adoption of the Maps API, we need to secure its long-term future by ensuring that even when used by the highest-volume for-profit sites, the service remains viable.”

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With iOS 5 being released on October 12th to everyone (well, everyone who has relatively recent Apple device), Apple is making it available to developers today for testing. It just hit Apple’s developer site, and we’re in the process of getting it installed on our devices. We’ll update you with any new changes we find, and you do the same, alright? In the mean time, the full change log we received is after the break!

Thanks, Jean!

Notes and Known Issues

The following issues relate to using the 5 SDK to develop code.

Desktop apps that are designed to run on Windows 8 computers with x86/x64 processors will also be capable of running on ARM processors, ZDNet reported on Tuesday. Developers will need to recompile applications so that they run properly and Microsoft is hoping that a majority of developers create both desktop and ARM versions of their applications. In addition, ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley said the standard Windows 8 desktop Metro style user interface will look the exact same on both types of processors. Microsoft has not yet said whether or not its Windows 8 application store will be populated with both Metro style applications and desktop apps.

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Samsung will open its bada mobile operating system to other manufacturers and developers next year in an effort to “reduce its reliance” on Android, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The South Korea-based company also hopes it can deploy bada on other devices, such as smart TVs. Samsung unveiled bada in late 2009 and has used the operating system on its Wave family of handsets. According to Gartner, bada currently has a 1.9% share of the mobile OS market. Samsung’s latest bada-powered handsets include the Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y. “For Samsung to be successful with opening bada it will need to be launched in the United States market, because that is where the most powerful developers and consumers are found,” Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston told The Wall Street Journal. “If bada does not get traction in the huge U.S. market, then the odds will be stacked against success.”

Google posted a guide on its Android Developers website on Monday that should help developers prepare Honeycomb applications for the new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system, which will run on smartphones as well as tablets. That means Honeycomb developers will need to make their applications compatible with displays smaller than those found on various Android tablets. Creating an Ice Cream Sandwich compatible version of an application is important to reaching a larger audience, too. “Optimizing for handsets can be tricky if your designs currently use all of a large screen to deliver content,” Google explained in a blog post. “It’s worth the effort, though, because Ice Cream Sandwich brings the Honeycomb APIs to handsets and you’ll significantly increase the user-base for your app.” Read on for a link to to the Android developer site, where you can read an in-depth guide to adding smartphone support to Honeycomb apps. 

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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer surprised developers during Micorosft’s BUILD conference in California on Wednesday when he took the stage to talk up Microsoft’s new operating system, currently named Windows 8. Ballmer noted that there have already been 500,000 downloads of the operating system since it went live last night. “We still have a long way to go with Windows 8,” Ballmer said. “We’re retooling all of what we do.” Ballmer believes that the changes will compel developers to begin to favor Microsoft’s operating system, which he expects will ship on 350 million PCs this year alone. “There is no phone, there is nothing on the tablet, there is no operating system on the planet that will ship 350 million units of anything other than Windows,” Ballmer boasted, noting that Windows 8 supports both Intel and ARM chipsets. Before wrapping up, Ballmer, in typical fashion, called on “developers, developers, developers” to rally around Windows 8.

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Microsoft announced that it is releasing a developer preview of its upcoming next-generation operating system, currently named “Windows 8,” during its BUILD conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. President of Windows and Windows Live Division Steve Sinofsky took the stage during BUILD’s opening keynote and discussed several of the operating system’s new features. “We reimagined Windows,” he said. “From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise.” As Microsoft has already revealed, Windows 8 will offer a new “Metro style” user interface that is built to take advantage of touch input but works just as well with a keyboard and mouse. Internet Explorer 10 will also offer full support for touch browsing, and Sinofsky hinted that even desktop-sized Windows 8 computers will largely take advantage of touchscreen monitors. Developers will be able to create Metro style applications that will fill the entire screen, too. Microsoft said the next-generation of Windows 8 hardware will turn on instantly and will be capable of running all day on a single charge. The OS is designed to run on devices ranging from a 10-inch tablet to a large desktop, and developers will have access to Windows 8 later this week. Read on for the full press release that discusses several other new features in Windows 8, as well as a hands-on video from WinRumors.

Microsoft Reimagines Windows, Presents Windows 8 Developer Preview

BUILD conference attendees and developers get first access to new operating system.

LOS ANGELES — Sept. 13, 2011 — Today at its developer-focused BUILD conference, Microsoft Corp. showcased a detailed preview of the next major release of Windows, code-named “Windows 8.” The company also detailed new tools for developers to help write applications for more than 1 billion people around the world who use Windows every day.

“We reimagined Windows,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft, in his keynote address to the thousands of developers in attendance. “From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise.”

The company also highlighted a variety of new features in Windows 8, including the following:

Touch-First User Interface

•	Metro style. Windows 8 introduces a new Metro style interface built for touch, which shows information important to you, embodies simplicity and gives you control. The Metro style UI is equally at home with a mouse and keyboard as well.
•	Touch-first browsing, not just browsing on a touch device. Providing a fast and fluid touch-browsing experience, Internet Explorer 10 puts sites at the center on new Windows 8 devices.

More Ways to Engage With Powerful, Connected Apps

•	Powered by apps. Metro style apps built for Windows 8 are the focal point of your experience, filling your entire screen so there are no distractions.
•	Apps can work together. Apps communicate with each other in Windows 8. For example, you can easily select and email photos from different places, such as Facebook, Flickr or on your hard drive.
•	Your experience syncs across your devices. Live roams all the content from the cloud services you use most — photos, email, calendar and contacts — keeping them up-to-date on your devices. With SkyDrive, you can access your files, photos and documents from virtually anywhere with any browser or with Metro style apps in Windows 8.

Enhanced Fundamentals

•	The best of Windows 7, only better. Windows 8 is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7, delivering improvements in performance, security, privacy and system reliability. Windows 8 reduces the memory footprint needed — even on the lowest-end hardware — leaving more room for your apps.
•	Preserving power-user favorites and making them better. For those who push the limits of their PC, Windows 8 features an enhanced Task Manager and Windows Explorer and new, flexible options for multimonitor setups.

New Developer Opportunities

•	Windows Store. The Windows Store will allow developers to sell their apps anywhere Windows is sold worldwide, whether they’re creating new games or familiar productivity tools.
•	Build using more languages. Windows 8 lets you leverage your existing skills and code assets to create great experiences using the programming language you prefer.
•	Rich hardware integration leads to richer experiences — particularly for games. DirectX 11 gaming power underlies Windows 8, allowing the easy creation of full-screen games with smooth, flicker-free action.

New Generation of Hardware

•	One Windows — many shapes and sizes. Support for ARM-based chipsets, x86 (as well as x32 and x64) devices, touch and sensors means Windows 8 works beautifully across a spectrum of devices, from 10-inch tablets and laptops to all-in-ones with 27-inch high-definition screens.
•	Always connected. With Windows 8, new ultrathin PCs and tablets turn on instantly, run all day on a single charge and stay connected to the Internet so your PC is ready when you are. Next-generation system on a chip (SoC) support will also enable greatly extended standby and low-power states.
•	Tap the full power of your PC. Windows 8 runs on PCs and is compatible with the devices and programs you use today on Windows 7, without compromise, to deliver the performance you expect of a PC.

Developers will be able to download the Windows Developer Preview via the new Windows Dev Center later this week. Webcasts of sessions will be posted on the BUILD site as well.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Some information relates to a prerelease product, which may be substantially modified before it’s commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

[Video via WinRumors]