14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based Microsoft released on Tuesday a new version of its Windows Mobile operating system, the 6.5 flavor, and, along with it, a software portal that offers mobile phone users who own a WM 6.5-powered device direct access to a wide range of apps developed for their OS. Available in a variety of countries around the world, and in several languages, the Windows Marketplace for Mobile seems to have a major flaw at the moment: localization.
To be more precise, this implies that one developer can only submit its application to one localized Marketplace, and, in case one would like to have it available on more localized versions of the Marketplace, one would have to pay an extra fee of US$10. Moreover, in order to be submitted to more localized versions of the Marketplace, the applications will have to meet certain criteria, including the availability in localized languages.
Due to this state of facts, the US American Marketplace shows a wider range of applications available for users than the German one, and the same applies to other localized versions of the Marketplace too. Another problem that emerges here, besides the fact that an English app won't be available in the French, German and Spanish Marketplace unless it is translated into that language, is that users cannot access apps from another Marketplace than the one available in their country.
According to the Unwired, Microsoft is set to address this issue with the software portal in the near future, at least this is what an employee from the software giant sated: “Microsoft is aware of this problem. However, for the launch it wasn't possible to change this Marketplace Mobile behavior but Microsoft will introduce a solution later which will allow the end-user to switch Marketplaces.” This might be a way to solve the issue, as users will be able to access the Marketplace in other countries than their own, though the existence of a single Marketplace is not something Microsoft currently has in mind.
However, developers are not happy at all with the current state of facts. “We have one English language app, now in Marketplace ( DJ Party Mixer). But there are 25 languages in Marketplace. In order for my product to be available worldwide, I need an outside company to make technical translations in all 25 languages. The cost of translating my product descriptions, manuals and application strings in all languages is around $7500. Small developers can’t afford that,” is what a Dutch developer told msmobiles.