14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace will soon offer applications and upgrades only to devices that have already been upgraded to the latest flavor of the company’s mobile platform, Windows Phone 7.5.
The Redmond-based software giant announced the move back in April, and it is currently gearing up to make the changes to the app portal.
It did not offer a specific date for when these modifications will enter into effect, but this will happen very soon.
In fact, the company’s Mazhar Mohammed posted on the Windows Team Blog that users should consider performing an upgrade to the Windows Phone 7.5 platform version as soon as possible.
Through performing the upgrade, users make sure that they will continue to benefit from access to the Marketplace, both on the web and on the phone, to download and install new applications and games, or to upgrade existing software.
“We’re now doing the final work needed to turn on this new requirement, so I thought it would be a good time for another friendly reminder,” Mazhar Mohammed notes.
Previously, he explained that the requirement is connected to Microsoft’s efforts to improve the Windows Phone Marketplace.
“But the key takeaway is that if you like apps and games, you’ll soon need Windows Phone 7.5 installed to continue using Marketplace. Most of you already do,” he notes.
Users who haven’t installed the new Windows Phone 7.5 platform on their devices need to head over to this article on Microsoft’s support website to learn more on the matter.
Details on what the new platform brings along, as well as on what the process involves and on the issues that might appear during the upgrade are provided on this support page.
The Marketplace improvements that Microsoft is preparing might also have something to do with the upcoming release of a new major flavor of its mobile operating system, namely Windows Phone 8 (codenamed Apollo).