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Microsoft readying Windows 10 Store for Business

Microsoft is readying its promised Windows 10 Store for Business, a portal which will allow business users to funnel specific Window apps to users inside an organization.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Microsoft is readying its promised Windows Store for Business for Windows 10, and has made available some initial information on the coming Store as of November 4.

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The Windows Store for Business is the portal for Windows 10 apps for business users. Microsoft officials first outlined the company's plans for a Windows 10 Store for Business in November 2014.

Last I heard, the new Store for Business was expected to be part of Microsoft's coming Windows 10 Threshold 2 release, which is due in November 2015. I'm not sure if that's still the plan, given many are expecting Microsoft to make Threshold 2 available for PCs starting next week.

I asked Microsoft officials for comment on availability of the Windows 10 Store for Business; no word back yet.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that Microsoft is rolling out the Windows 10 Store for Business to Windows Insiders for testing, but wouldn't comment on timing for its final release.

The Windows 10 Store for Business -- according to the site where users will be able to sign up or sign in with an organizational account -- is for admins who want to make applications available to their users outside of the normal Windows Store channel in Windows 10.

The portal will allow admins to find apps for their teams. They can acquire apps individually or in volume. They can assign, reclaim or reassign licenses to various apps and control app updates. They also can distribute offline-licensed apps via the Windows Store for Business.

The coming Windows Store for Business portal can serve up Windows Store apps for volume acquisition and distribution, as well as custom line-of-business apps that are meant for distribution only inside a particular organization.

Microsoft officials said last year that users will be able to manage Windows 10 business appsusing System Center Configuration Manager, Intune and/or other mobile-device-management services.

Update (November 5): Here are more details on what's in the coming Business Store from Microsoft TechNet.

The Store for Business will be available initially in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden.

(Thanks to @TeroAlhonen forthe links to the Store pages.)

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