Microsoft Unifies Windows and Windows Phone Developer Registration

In a move to make the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store integrated, Microsoft had brought the Windows Store and the Windows Phone Store together into a single marketing and operations team to deliver a better experience for developers, end users and partners. Now they have made the developer registration into one. As a result of these changes, Windows Store developers are now also Windows Phone developers, and Windows Phone developers are also Windows Store developers.

Here’s what you can expect:

• 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.

Although the account is unified, developers will have separate Windows Store and Windows Phone Dev Center Dashboards to submit and manage the apps. Moreover there will be some difference in steps you take to renew the account.

As a developer, this is really great news as they do not have to maintain two accounts for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps.

Via Windows Phone Developer Blog