Microsoft could be testing Windows Phone apps on its Windows 8 operating system, if a popular Windows Phone application is to be believed. I'm a WP7 tracks the version numbers and codenames of all Windows Phone devices and currently reports that one percent of its users are running Windows 8 desktop software. The builds in question are 8283 and 8288, making them more recent than the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (build 8250), released on February 29th.

I'm a WP7 also states that the codename of this particular Windows Phone version is Jupiter, Microsoft's new user interface library for Windows. Leaked builds of Windows 8 previously revealed some sightings of the Jupiter codename in use during the very early milestone copies of Windows 8. Some believe that Jupiter will allow developers to easily port or run Silverlight Windows Phone applications on a full client version of Windows 8. With speculation flowing over the future of Windows Phone 8, and leaked information confirming that both operating systems will allow developers to reuse the same code for apps, we can't help but feel that Microsoft is secretly laying the Windows 8 foundations for its Windows Phone 8 work. We won't know for sure until a Release Candidate of Windows 8 is available, but with Windows Phone 8 expected later this year — it's safe to say there will be a close relationship between the two.

Thanks, Paul Hughes!