Google confirmed today that they plan to release a version of Chrome that supports Metro style browsing in Windows 8.
The Chrome for Metro announcement comes on the heels of Mozilla’s revelation that they’ve begun work on “a very big project” to develop Firefox for Metro.
Those are two big “gets” for Windows 8, and the availability of either browser will reassure loyal users of both programs that they can safely upgrade.
These two announcements got me to thinking, though: What are the killer apps for Metro? What apps do you need to see with full Windows 8 support before you’ll switch?
I’m thinking Adobe has several entries on the list, and iTunes isn’t there at all. (That’s the point of iCloud, isn’t it?)
Twitter and Facebook will have official Metro clients, I’m sure. Dropbox should be there, and Spotify, and (duh) Angry Birds.
What else? Please use the comments to tell me what Windows 8 apps you’re looking forward to.
Ed Bott (@ wordpress.com) 
As long as I have email and twitter apps that give me notifications when I receive a new email or tweet, I’ll be happy. I could just have them as pinned web pages, but I need the Push Notification feature so that I can use these services like on the desktop.
No other apps are particularly important. I’m a Web developer, and I guess I really do live on the Web.
1.Kindle (already available).
2.Audible.
3.Metro styled Browser with flash (mainly for watching live events).
4.Youtube (html5 version is really bad).
5.Google/Nokia maps (Bing maps are useless outside US).
6.Google goggles/Bing vision.
7.Translator.
8.Some HD games.
The app I would like to see would be one that removes all traces of Metro. I hate the look of it.
I’m mostly looking forward to news apps. First of all, I NEED a good feed reader client with Google Reader integration. I would also like apps for the Daily Mail newspaper, BBC, ESPN and cricinfo websites.
And I want a good ebook reader with the ability to read Epub, PDF and text files with support for the SkyDrive share contract.
An app to browse MSDN libraries will be a real bonus too.
And lastly, I want good Metro style Text editor, calculator and basic photo editing app.
To be honest I’m not too bothered about existing applications introducing a Metro version. I’ll be continuing to use the desktop versions as I don’t have/need a tablet. No deal breaker apps for me.
Not planning to use Windows 8 at all, I’m completely out of Windows now.
Win7 will be the last one I’ve used (and stopped using). Vista is what made me question why I’m still on Windows and look for alternatives, and that started the end of the road for me on Windows…
I may change my mind of course, but plan right now is to stay clear.
I look at it in two separate ways – first, what will make me use a W8 tablet (WOA or otherwise) instead of an iPad, and second, what will make me use W8 on my regular PC?
Tablet/casual use:
1. Good RSS reader with social sharing/Readability type support. Preferably, Newsblur, which I use full-time now.
2. Some level of Lastpass support (not sure how it will be supported but I am really hampered without it).
3. Flipboard
4. Zite
5. TV apps like NBC, abc, TBS, TNT, HBO Showtime, etc. which are all currently available on the iPad
6. Sports apps like ESPN (WatchESPN included), NFL Sunday Ticket, etc.
7. DirecTV app (iPad app allows a select number of channels to be live streamed)
8. Netflix, although it is one of those that is almost certain to be there
9. PBS Kids
10. Skitch
11. Skype (presumably coming in some shape or form)
12. Vonage mobile
13. Remote Desktop/LogMeIn/Splashtop or better yet, Live Mesh-style RDP
PC use:
1. Quicken
2. Turbo Tax
3. Metro version of Windows Live Writer
4. CutePDF or equivalent, to make PDFs
5. Native or Metro-fied support for my scanner (today, it is an additional piece of software to install on Windows 7): Fujitsu Scansnap 1300
6. I am going to leave out the obvious “Desktop” category of apps like Photoshop, AutoCAD, SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio, etc. which I know are of course going to work in Windows 8 as Desktop apps. Also, Metro-fied Office is not mentioned here because it is known to be coming.
Whatever happened to Microsoft Games ????
Sorry to be so simple, but, all of them. Every app I use.
A light weight text editor with support for Skydrive
Mail app (I assume preview app will support other necessary features)
Evernote with all missing features
EBooks reader
News reader (that’s a job for me!)
These are Metro apps I’d want in a tablet:
Flipboard (good RSS discovery)
GoodReader (good PDF reader)
WRAL.com (local news station)
Facebook
Hootsuite (good multicolumn Twitter client)
Zillow (good real estate app)
Rhapsody (subscription music – $15/mo for 3 licenses)
Evernote (or a fully functional OneNote)
AudioNote (or a version of OneNote that will record audio while chrono-syncing with entry of written notes.
A browser than allows bookmarklets (like save to Evernote, save to read later, save to Delicious – perhaps the Contracts concept will bridge these functions gracefully).
I will not convert my HTPC, though, unless Microsoft breaks Windows Media Center into individual Metro apps such as: Guide, Live TV, and Recorded TV.
This one is nice and easy.
MS Office with full metro and touch UI.
MS is too late take a crack at consumer tablet spend.
Win 8 needs to be the ultimate mobile business platform or thats all she wrote.
And considering how “average” other tablets are in the entreprise there is an opening here, but not for long.
A decent mobile OneNote client would actually have me dizzy with joy.