Earlier this month at its Build 2014 conference, Microsoft had said the program would begin in May, but it seems to have brought the date forward. The roll-out of the program will begin this week with a small pilot group of developers pre-selected by Microsoft. At this stage company wants to ensure the system works as expected and it will be later expand over time.
The company says if everything goes as planned then it will begin scaling up participation in May with additional developers invited to participate each month. Also the pace of the roll-out will be driven by user feedback and developers will get invites based on their app downloads.
Google had rolled out a similar system for its developers in June 2012.
Microsoft on its official blog notes that, due to this program, "Some customers may start to hear from developers in the pilot program as early as later this week."
Under the program, once a developer creates a response, users will receive the comment via an email from Microsoft. For now, developers will be able to respond to reviews posted from Windows Phone 8.1 devices anywhere in the world, as well as reviews posted from any Windows Phone device in the US only.
Microsoft also provided guidelines for use and warned developers that if anyone abuses this feature in any way then, "Microsoft will revoke developer access."
"This capability is designed to help you maintain closer contact with users to inform them of new features, bugs you've addressed, as well as get feedback and ideas to improve your app. This capability is not to be used for marketing and does not provide you as the developer with the user's personal information, such as an email address," Microsoft said.Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.