Chinese Windows 8 ‘App Store’ Screenshots Leaked

Last summer, we talked about a couple of rumors that rose from leaked slides which stated that Windows 8 would ship with a full-blown “App Store” (you gonna take that, Apple?), and if screenshots leaked this past January are to be believed, there’s been some definite progress. Furthering the rumor? Screenshots leaked just earlier this week – this time in the Chinese version of Windows 8.

It’s important to stress that these screenshots shouldn’t even be assumed as being legit at this point in time, as there are many bits of conflicting information floating around out there. The biggest might be the fact that the App Store in Windows 8 was supposed to be designed around XNA or Silverlight, to have it resemble Microsoft’s other digital stores. As you can see below, this certainly isn’t the case.

However, it can be argued that Microsoft would want a Windows 8 App Store to, you know, resemble a Windows 8 application, replete with Aero interface. In that regard, the Chinese leaked screenshots do look like they could fit the part, and overall, the entire interface perfectly mimics the English leaked shots from earlier this year (though here, Aero is disabled).

Something strange I did notice is that for some reason, the absolutely 100% free Mozilla Thunderbird is being sold for ¥ 0.99 ($0.15 USD), although this might be one of those little bugs that occur due to the fact that the app store is not a public product, nor one that Microsoft has even announced or wants to be publicly discussed.

Either way, if the final app store makes it into Windows 8 with a similar interface as seen above, I couldn’t complain. But given the number of comments I’ve seen around the Web, I seem to be in the vast minority. But how many different ways can you spin an app store and keep it easy to navigate?