Can you guess what is up Microsoft’s sleeve this time? The answer is an App Store. Yes, just like Apple, Microsoft is planning to introduce an App Store in Windows 8 the likes of which we all see in the Mac OS X. Microsoft’s President Steven Sinofsky is the man behind this revelation which in fact also confirms the rumours that were in the air for months.

Mr Sinofsky, in a blog for Windows 8 titled “Introducing the team” mentioned several teams associated with the development of the OS and among those was a team for App Store. He said that the work on the OS is distributed among 35 teams, which comprise of 25 to 40 developers each. In the blog, he said, “Many of the teams listed below describe features or areas that you are familiar with or that you can probably figure out based on the name. As we post more, team members will identify themselves as part of these teams.” Obviously, no immediate response could be gathered from Microsoft’s representatives for any further comment on the news. For more than a year now, it was rumoured that Microsoft is under way to develop an App Store for Windows.

These rumours did not spring up from thin air but they had fool proof evidence in the shape of a series of leaked documents regarding Windows 8 in the month of June last year. It is reported that Microsoft has always been eager to come at par with Apple at its own game by developing its own App Store for Windows. In a demonstration of the Windows 8 OS by Mr Sinofsky later in June this year, at the All Things Digital D9 conference, the App Store surfaced. It was among the start-up Menu tiles, an icon, which was a direct link to Microsoft store, openly telling us that Microsoft is developing its very own version of an App Store on the Internet similar to the Apple’s.

Microsoft reportedly has been very active and has been working very hard not to let Apple get the U.S. trademark for the phrase App Store. The argument that Microsoft is giving for this is that the phrase is too general to be trademarked and it will pose difficulties for others to promote their App Stores in the future. Though Microsoft has not officially announced the date of release for Windows 8 but, it is being assumed that it will be available on the shelve in the Fall of 2012.