Microsoft Announces Marketplace Availability in 8 Countries

Redmond-based software giant Microsoft has announced today in a post on the Windows Mobile blog that the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is now opened for registration to those developers who would like to submit their applications to the software portal. According to the Windows Mobile team, registrations are opened only for eight countries at the moment.

Registration to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is now opened for the English language markets, says the WinMo team, while also adding that it expects it to be enabled in more markets in the next few months. For the time being, only developers that live in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore and India can register with the portal.

The post on the Windows Mobile blog also offers some more info for the developers that already have a Live ID and have already established a billing relationship with Microsoft. According to the post, they need to make sure that all the necessary information is added in their commerce profile and, in this regard, there are a few steps that they should follow:

1. Go to http://billing.microsoft.com
2. Sign in with your Live ID that is associated with your credit card information
3. Under "Billing account overview" click on hyperlink "Go to personal information"
4. In the next page, under "Your personal information" make sure every item is correctly filled and is accurate. If there is any piece of information that's missing or is inaccurate, please click on "Edit personal Information," add/modify the missing piece (including phone number) and save.
5.Try to sign up for Windows Marketplace for Mobile again.

One more thing that should be mentioned here is that the Microsoft Developers Network has opened developer forums (available here), where those who would like to submit their applications to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile can find a few more details. End-users will also be able to find there some bits of info, though most of what will happen on the forum will probably not be of interest to them.

As you can easily see, the company is moving closer to the release date of the software portal, since the service already got the final touches, so it shouldn't be too long before we learn that the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is rolled out on the market. From a certain point of view, this is great news, as the service will be accessible only when Windows Mobile 6.5 is available, suggesting that the platform could also be near a launch date.