Originally the “Windows Marketplace for Mobile” was to be WM6.5 or above only. However due to public pressure they eventually backed down and said they would support WM6.0 or above. The client however will only be in ROM in new WM6.5 devices, since Microsoft doesn’t ship OS updates for older devices. A user with an older OS will have to know about, and then explictly seek out a download of the marketplace client.

You also don’t mention the per-region cost associated with testing or publishing. As well as the $99 fee per product there is a approx $10 fee per region you want to publish your app to (over or above the one you select when you pay the original $99). These regions or locales also seem to be much more finer grain than the equivalent feature in the iTunes App Store. For example English (US), English (GB) and English (AU) are all apparently considered different regions.

So you’re looking at $99 per year to become a member, $99 per product you release (with 5 guarenteed for free until the end of 2009, and not each year as some people think) and then approx $10 per region you want to support.

Following the evolving documentation for the Windows Marketplace for Mobile it is also a shifting goal post. In the last few months Microsoft have changed the requirements, meaning it’s anybodies guess what they will look like when the marketplace officially opens for business. A number of developers are complaining about the changing requirements and fragile software. See for example some of the threads in the support forums – http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mktplace/threads

The most funny complaint I’ve seen is applications being rejected due to their about screen or help file including a hyperlink to the developer’s website. In this day of always connected internet and mobile web, it’s apparently against the Windows marketplace for Mobile rules to include a usable hyperlink within your application. If you want to link to your website you must use a textual link, and get the user to manually copy it into a webbrowser, rather than simply tapping the screen. Or atleast that’s what MSFT employees are saying on the forums…

And @tinytim above, sorry but I just purchased an official unlocked iPhone directly from Apple and it was nowhere near $1000 – it was closer to $700!!!!!! You TROLLLLLLL…

Marketplace comes pre-installed on every WinMo 6.5 phone. Microsoft said WinMo 6.0 will be supported. Of course, the user has to install the MarketPlace software in previous versions.

Anyway, even if WinMo 6.5 were the only version supported and started from scratch, Microsoft would sell about 4 million WinMo licenses a quarter. So there would be a user base of
4 million in three months time. That is not too bad.

Microsoft is making the only move it can, after having spent the last two decades positioning their pieces on the board. Apple keeps putting them in check, and they keep ducking their king behind a pawn.

As DED has pointed out repeatedly, MS has already placed too many bets on the wrong horses. In an attempt to copy Apple’s iTMS success, for example, they had to burn their PlaysForSure partners to the ground. Should they start selling MS-Branded PCs? Sure, if they want HP, Dell, and Gateway to start aggressively selling Linux instead.

Winthusiasts like to suggest that DED simply luvs Apple and is a MS-hater. Not true, we would all benefit from MS straightening up, they just can’t copy Apple’s success without abandoning their old paths to profit. The two companies chose different philosophies, and I think it’s pretty clear that Apple is extremely well-positioned (both technologically and logistically) and that Microsoft is playing defense and being forced to make tough choices.