added.

The progress report on Windows Marketplace for Mobile came via an interview with Audrey Zolghadr (right), a Windows Mobile product manager at Microsoft France. MobiFrance writer Jerome Tranie quotes Zolghadr as saying, "For the launch of Marketplace, 600 applications will be certified and available."

Zolghadr reportedly added that, as has been widely publicized previously, there are more than 20,000 applications available for the Windows Mobile platform overall. But, she is said to have noted, those offered on the company's Windows Mobile 6.5-specific online store will be "certified," and will be displayed for a customer only if they are compatible with the characteristics of a particular device's display -- high- or low-resolution, and touchscreen or non-touchscreen.

Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile (Click image to enlarge)

Microsoft's initial online offering of 600 applications will pale beside the more than 50,000 reportedly now available for Apple's iPhone, or the 5,000 said to be available for Google's Android. However, it is much more than the 30-odd applications that are currently online for Palm's Pre.

In the MobiFrance interview, Zolghadr reportedly repeated previous assurances from Microsoft that, unlike on Apple's App Store for the iPhone, those buying applications from Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile will receive a 24-hour moneyback guarantee. Also, customers will be able to be billed directly, via credit card, or through their providers, according to Microsoft.

Zolghadr also was quoted as saying Microsoft has signed an agreement with EA Games and will be able to offer a mobile version of Sim City, among other applications. Certain games, themes, and wallpapers will be available as free downloads, she is said to have added.

Background

Windows Mobile 6.5 (Click image for further information)

In February, Microsoft announced that Windows Marketplace for Mobile, formerly code-named Skymarket, will ship on every Windows Mobile 6.5 device when the operating system upgrade ships on new phones 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.

Now accepting developer registrations, the online marketplace promises to let developers submit up to five apps a year for $99, and to keep 70 percent of the sales revenue from any applications they sell on Windows Marketplace for Mobile. In addition, says Microsoft, Windows Marketplace for Mobile offers developers "transparency throughout the certification process," along with "guidance and support from the stage of development to the final sale to the consumer."

Further information

To read the MobilFrance interview with Audrey Zolghadr in its original French language, go here. To read a Google translation, go here.

For further information, see also a news analysis by Don Resinger on our sister site eWEEK.com, here.

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