Existing users of one or the other program will be able to renew with their existing account and have access to both markets, while anyone who has previously registered for both (and paid for both) will be receiving a voucher for an additional free year of membership.
While the registration is unified, developers will still need to manage the two dashboards (for WP and W8) separately, but I can hopefully see more developers from one discipline taking the time to look over the other side of the fence to see just how much work is going to be needed to port over any applications to the sister platform. At which point Microsoft hope their vision (and tool chain) kicks in for the developer...
The highlights from the change, as noted by Microsoft's Todd Brix, are:
- Registered Windows Store developers can now submit apps to the Windows Phone Store at no additional cost, using the same Microsoft account.
- Registered Windows Phone developers can now submit apps to the Windows Store at no additional cost, using the same Microsoft account.
- New developers can register and existing developers can renew their account using the same Microsoft account. Developers will enter registration information just once and pay a single lower price of $19 for an Individual and $99 for a Company account, providing access to publish apps for both Windows and Windows Phone users.
- Developers already registered with both Windows Store and Windows Phone using the same Microsoft account will receive a code via email this month, valid for a free one-year renewal when their existing registration is up for renewal.
- Students continue to be supported through the DreamSpark program.
More details can be found on Microsoft's blog post.