According to the Windows Phone dev team, more than 1.1 million people have downloaded the
Windows App Studio Beta. And Microsoft continues to tweek the platform offering up the newest version this week.
This latest release adds new functionality including the ability to create an app and select Publish Package, which will get a .zip file that contains Store-ready publish packages, up to six screenshots of the app, the app logo, and publication instructions – everything needed to submit an app to the Phone Store and the Windows Store.
Also new are YouTube playlists as a data source that now provide the ability for an app to display videos by user, search term, and playlist. Also new are photo layout options for data sources that include Instagram, Flickr, and dynamic and static collections.
To help get started, a new dedicated App Studio News site has been created which provides links to training videos, presentations on specific features, and articles highlighting App Studio users.