"guidance and support," the company says.
Windows Mobile 6.5
(Click image for further information) |
Microsoft announced at last month's MWC (Mobile World Congress) that Windows Marketplace for Mobile, formerly code-named
Skymarket, will ship on every
Windows Mobile 6.5 device when the operating system upgrade is released later this year. The online store "will provide direct-to-phone mobile applications that can be controlled from both the phone and the Web," the company says.
According to Microsoft, there are already more than 20,000 applications for Windows Mobile. The openness of the operating system, which permits users to download and install applications from a wide variety of sources, has long been considered one of its greatest strengths. The new Marketplace, however, will provide OTA (over-the-air) installation of Windows Mobile 6.5-specific applications, subject to "security and compatibility checks from Microsoft."
In today's announcement, Microsoft said it will let developers keep 70 percent of the sales revenue from any applications sold on Windows Marketplace for Mobile. In addition, the company promised "transparency throughout the certification process," along with "guidance and support from the stage of development to the final sale to the consumer."
The 70 percent revenue share is identical to that reportedly offered to developers by Apple, with its successful App Store for the iPhone. However, Microsoft's reference to "transparency" is apparently meant to differentiate its planned approval process for apps from the one already offered by Apple.
According to widespread reports, Apple can take months to approve an application for the App Store, provides little or no feedback during the process, and often summarily rejects apps that it feels compete with its own offerings. As a result, a shadow ecosystem has arisen, serving up non-approved applications to "jailbroken" iPhones via tools such as programmer Jay Freeman's
Cydia installer.
Microsoft says it, too, will run "a rigorous certification and testing process before applications go to market," but will provide developers with ongoing feedback in the meantime. Like Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Windows Marketplace for Mobile will host free applications for download as well as paid ones, the company says.
According to Microsoft, developers will be able to register for Windows Marketplace for Mobile "in the spring," and will be able to start submitting applications later this summer. An annual registration fee of $99 -- reportedly comparable to Apple's -- will let developers submit up to five applications per year, and each additional submission will cost $99. The fee is waived for student developers who are registered in Microsoft's
DreamSpark program, the company adds.
Further informationMore information about Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile appears on the company's website,
here.
Further background can be found in articles on our sister site
eWEEK.com,
here and
here. Meanwhile, Microsoft watcher Mary-Jo Foley offers comparisons between Apple's App Store and Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile on her blog,
here.
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