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Vevo, edjing, and other Windows 8 apps arrive just ahead of Microsoft's Build developer event

Vevo, edjing, and other Windows 8 apps arrive just ahead of Microsoft's Build developer event

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Windows Store
Windows Store

Microsoft is travelling to San Francisco next week to hold its annual Build conference and convince developers to create Windows 8 apps. Exactly one week before the conference begins, it's unveiling a number of new Windows 8 applications that third-party developers have been working on. Popular DJ app edjing will be made available on Windows 8 this week, with pre-cueing and a pitch shifter feature to mix songs from a music library. It's one of the first big-name iOS and Android DJ apps to make its way over to Windows 8, and Microsoft claims it took 15 days to develop the app.

Continuing the theme of entertainment, Vevo, the music industry's video service for the web, is also debuting on Windows 8 this week. Vevo has created a Snap View for its Windows 8 app that lets users of the service snap the application while they use another app. Time Out and Great British Chefs are also launching applications that provide access to their own content, while Tesco has built an app that lets UK customers use its online shopping service.

Microsoft hints at additional apps for build

Disney is also getting involved in Windows 8. While the company recently launched a new "Best of Disney" app for the Xbox 360, a new physics-based game, Where's My Mickey, will launch on Windows 8 soon for $4.99. Hinting that next week's conference could bring additional announcements, Microsoft says all the additions are "really just the tip of the iceberg."

The Windows Store recently passed 80,000 applications, with Microsoft reportedly concentrating a lot of its efforts on paying developers to build Windows Phone apps. The software giant is pinning its hopes on a new generation of apps and developers to build out both of its stores, hosting a fresh Build conference just over six months after the last one. It underlines the pace that Microsoft is hoping to set with Windows 8.1 and beyond, but the company clearly needs to start attracting the big-name apps sooner to help improve its chances in the mobile race.