Preview of Windows 8 Apps for Microsoft Dynamics AX released in Windows Store

In March we introduced a set of mobile device experiences for Microsoft Dynamics AX. We continue to make progress in rolling out these experiences, as we’ve recently released a preview of three Windows 8 apps for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 in the US Windows store.

These preview versions are meant to get our customers and partners acquainted with these new apps and provide an example of native and immersive experiences for our developer ecosystem. Because these are preview versions of the apps, they work with local demo data only.

We will release updated versions of these same apps that can be connected to an organization’s Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 instance within the next few months. Additional languages and markets (through the local Windows Store) will also be made available in future releases of these apps.

I’ve included a Windows Store link to each of the three apps below. (Outside of the United States, to get to the US store, you can change your Home Location to United States in the Region Location setting in the Windows 8 Client).

Customers and Partners: Who wants to build some apps?

We believe that in addition to Microsoft delivering user experiences that are personal, social, and immersive, it is important that we enable our ecosystem to do the same. These three employee and manager self-service apps provide good examples of the types of apps our developer ecosystem can create. We’re pleased with the early interest in the apps, which were featured in the recent Build 2013 conference (the session can be viewed here.)

Along with continued investments in our APIs and SDK documentation for Microsoft Dynamics AX, we’ve also released a “Design Center” on our MSDN Development Center for Windows 8 applications. The Design Center contains valuable resources and guidance for developers, customers and partners – anyone who wants to build Windows 8 apps.

In addition, the Windows team announced a new User Experience Design competency for our partners, which will be introduced in January 2014 through the Microsoft Partner Network. This certification offers valuable insight whether you are interested in developing immersive Windows 8 apps for Dynamics-specific scenarios or any other consumer/business scenarios.

At WPC in Houston earlier this month I saw some interesting apps that our partners were able to build in a short time period. I am looking forward to even more exciting new apps that our ecosystem will deliver in the next 12 months!!

/Kees