14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has made a series of changes to its Windows Phone Marketplace, one of this affects developers' access to updating the various applications they came up with for the Windows Phone OS. Now, developers are offered the possibility to update both applications that have been designed for the Windows Phone 7.0 platform release, as well as those built for the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango OS, the Redmond-based company announced.
The 7.0 and 7.5 versions of the same application “share the same catalog details, pricing (including trial and geographic distribution options), ratings & review,” as well as hidden/live property if in a published state, the company explains.
Howeveer, developers are now offered the possibility to update each flavor of the app, as well as to unpublish or republish a software flavor independently. Both versions of the same application can be seen in the lifecycle tab in App Hub.
“It is important to note that there can only be one in-progress update at any time across both versions of an app,” Todd Brix, Senior Director, Windows Phone Marketplace, Microsoft, notes.
“The update in progress must be published to Marketplace before another version of the app can be updated.”
The company also notes that any catalog details and pricing changes that have been made to one of the application's versions will also affect the other flavor of the app.
At the same time, developers should know that, as long as they have published a 7.5 version of an application, they will not be able to publish the 7.0 iteration of the software as well.
One other important change in the Marketplace is the fact that there are now only 5 keywords per application, a move that should improve the shopping and downloading experience that users benefit from in the Marketplace.
“While this should help maintain a more productive marketplace for everyone, you should take this opportunity to review the keywords you’ve submitted for your applications to ensure that the first five keywords best describe your app to potential customers,” Todd Brix continues.
“App Hub will still allow you to enter more than five keywords as part of your submission or application update; however, the search functionality across Marketplace will now use only the first five keywords.”