Microsoft announces Windows Marketplace and My Phone for Windows Mobile

No big surprise here -- Microsoft just announced Windows Marketplace, a unified storefront for the over 20,000 Windows Mobile applications. As rumored, that means you'll be able to get apps directly from your phone, and Microsoft has also promised new and better tools for developers in the future. Also confirmed: My Phone, which will let you sync your phone to the cloud with access from the web. Sadly, we'll have to wait for all this stuff -- it's coming with Windows Mobile 6.5 which isn't due until later this year. We'll let you know more as soon as we find out, keep it locked!

[PoisonWolf @ Feb 16th 2009 9:29AM]

Finally.

[Quix @ Feb 16th 2009 10:33AM]

Microsoft: The Freedom to Innovate (TM)

LOL!!!

[iKurt Mark III @ Feb 16th 2009 11:04AM]

I agree, they finally reveal crap that is Windows Mobile. The honeycomb interface is more of a gimmick than anything else. It's a shame that Micro$oft needs an entire ecosystem of subpar hardware today to compete with 1 iPhone design.

[OneLove @ Feb 16th 2009 3:52PM]

Get yo Heads in da clouds! (this cloud stuff mystifies me, internet is now a cloud?)

[GiF @ Feb 17th 2009 8:53PM]

Anyone else notice that Steve Ballmer is a contact?

[Brian @ Feb 16th 2009 9:33AM]

ghey!

[jboy @ Feb 16th 2009 9:33AM]

Wow!! So original microsoft! I wonder where they got the idea to do this?

[JAmerican @ Feb 16th 2009 9:35AM]

Wonder where Apple got the idea to do push email to the phone? Oh yea they licensed the technology from Microsoft.

[matt @ Feb 16th 2009 9:37AM]

Yeah, because the concept of a repository of applications is so innovative...

[bureX @ Feb 16th 2009 9:41AM]

It's an application list! Whoop-dee-fuckin'-doo!

[steve @ Feb 16th 2009 4:44PM]

simpsons did it

[roach @ Feb 16th 2009 11:04AM]

I think Apple and Windows got it from Valve's Steam

[thethirdmoose @ Feb 16th 2009 11:27AM]

Linux repositories?

[Michael @ Feb 16th 2009 5:31PM]

Thirdmoose ein't wrong.. yum etc on linux has been doing this for ages...

And.. if you wanna contridict that by saying "its not GUI driven.." there are many front ended ones, but i suppose the one non-linux users might think of, thats actually closest to the likes of iphone and MS's repo.. is Linspire (Formally known as Lindows, till ms got all angry..)

And i'm sure someone will come along, and point out to me, that there was some much older form that was somewhat similar :) but i just though i'd back third moose up.

:D

[insky @ Feb 17th 2009 2:18AM]

Verizon's Get It Now?

[216 @ Feb 16th 2009 9:40AM]

No idea's original

[KilgoreTrout @ Feb 16th 2009 8:07PM]

Mine is!

[jboy @ Feb 16th 2009 9:44AM]

Windows mobile came out in 2003 (2000 if you count pocket pc). It took microsoft 6 years to release a unified marketplace for apps directly on a phone.

6 years...I suppose innovation takes awhile in the Microsoft Campus.

[Mark Anderson @ Feb 16th 2009 10:27AM]

Well here's the deal: MS and Nokia don't give a shit about being innovative. What they do care about is letting others take the risks, see which ideas work and then executing them better than the oposition.

Apple's App store allows you to download a set of heavily vetted applications to precisely one handset or variations thereof or an iPod Touch. MS and Nokia's stores will let you download far less censored applications which will be tailored to the handset you're using. Of course, this then gives you the choice of handset and carrier, neither of which is applicable to Apple.

About 20 or so years ago Apple came up with a commercially viable GUI. MS copied large parts of if it and then tied up the market by packaging the resulting OS with IBM PCs. You can argue about the legaility of it but the fact remains Apple got their shit shoved back two weeks last Saturday and it's taken them nearly twenty years to recover and approach anything resembling a 10% market share in the US.

Just because you're first to launch doesn't mean you're going to win. I hope this point isn't lost on Jobs and Co.

[kt1ao @ Feb 16th 2009 7:30PM]

So if Apple's heavily vetted applications from the App store means applications that don't have virus or take control of your precious handheld device than I have no problem. I can't wait to see when this amazing new service comes out from microsoft and then someone designing software to exploit it and giving you the blue screen of death. Well whatever the Mobile version of that is.

There is a reason Apple keeps tight control over apps in the app store and the above situation is the reason why. Quality control, ease of use, protection from malware. I'm just saying

[Nathan @ Feb 16th 2009 9:47AM]

June 9th 2008 - WWDC - Apple introduce a unified storefront for buying applications for your mobile device (AppStore) and also announce a service which will let you sync your phone to the cloud with access from the web (MobileMe).

Feb 16th 2009 - MWC - Microsoft introduce a unified storefront for buying applications for your mobile device (Windows Marketplace) and also announce a service which will let you sync your phone to the cloud with access from the web (My Phone).

I really don't know where some people get this idea that Microsoft is always copying Apple...

[Grutt @ Feb 18th 2009 11:31AM]

do you think they haven't been planning this?

[Nick @ Feb 16th 2009 9:50AM]

Wait, 20,000 apps? Really? That's it? WinMo fanboys the world over gave me the impression that WinMo had SOOOO many more apps that the iPhone has....Yet, on Jan. 16th, the App Store had 15,000 apps, an increase from their Dec. 5th,2008 tally of 10,000 apps. If that acceleration stays constant or even grows, will Apple soon be able to claim more apps in the App Store (in less than a year of being open, mind you), than WinMo has available or am I missing something here?

[Angus Hedger @ Feb 16th 2009 9:52AM]

This is just the first launch apps, not all the apps that WM has total.

[wazd @ Feb 16th 2009 9:54AM]

Yep, WinMo definitely suck at flashlight apps number. Oh, and fart generators too :(

[PG @ Feb 16th 2009 9:56AM]

Except for the fact that the apple app store's apps consist of 99% of farting and lame gimmic apps compared to real applications on win mob, palm and blackberry.

[Paul A. Chapel @ Feb 16th 2009 9:58AM]

Apple actually has 20,000 apps now.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 10:06AM]

There's easily twice as many apps on WinMo if we count the thousands upon countless thousands of apps brewing on XDA-devs, PPC geeks, etc. that are non commercial products being shared and tested by the communities out there, and not appearing for sale or distribution on services such as Handango.

Also, unlike the iPhone's app stores, most of the apps on WinMo serve some sort of useful function, unlike the overwhelmingly vast majority of useless junk apps which are just iterations of the same fart/flashlight app that appear for the iPhone.

[Paul A. Chapel @ Feb 16th 2009 10:38AM]

App Store Breakdown (currently 20150 apps)

1560 Book Apps
480 Business Apps
1480 Education Apps
2680 Entertainment Apps
420 Finance Apps
3790 Game Apps
460 Healthcare & Fitness Apps
1040 Lifestyle Apps
220 Medical Apps
640 Music Apps
540 Navigation Apps
780 News Apps
420 Photography Apps
840 Productivity Apps
920 Reference Apps
320 Social Networking Apps
680 Sports Apps
900 Travel Apps
1880 Utility Apps
100 Weather Apps


FYI: There are about 37 Fart Apps in various categories and 22 Flashlight apps in various categories.

[KilgoreTrout @ Feb 16th 2009 8:10PM]

Ever heard of the quantity/quality difference you moron?

[VanillaSpice @ Feb 16th 2009 9:26PM]

Unbelievable that anyone would think that the good/crap ratio of iPhone apps is any better or worse than the good/crap ratio of WinMo apps. You guys are idiots. Of course there is just as much WinMo crap as there is iPhone crap. Get over it, and get over your Apple-hating inferiority complex.

[Jim @ Feb 16th 2009 9:59AM]

Most importantly.... does it include 'Clippy'?

[Lee @ Feb 16th 2009 10:04AM]

lol look at all the church of anti-apple trying to defend blatant copying.

"Except for the fact that the apple app store's apps consist of 99% of farting and lame gimmic apps compared to real applications on win mob, palm and blackberry."

Wow, really? what real apps exactly? what apps have them phones got the iphone hasn't? Cos i can name thousands that the iphones got that the other one hasn't. Its funny people using the same argument, that its just 99% fart apps, it really sounds as if you are clutching at straws. Look in the app store, and see whats in there before you post and make yourself look ignorant.
Look what happened:
iphone had accelerometer, a month later all phones had accelerometer etc....
same with the app store, once apples app store came out, other phone companies started doing it, it is blatant copying, and those that say otherwise are just in denial.

[IluRapii @ Feb 16th 2009 4:34PM]

Poor logic. I have an ipod touch and yes the apps are by-and-large, useless pieces of junk. The problem with what apple has done (and, coincidently, the most genius thing) is that they have marketed the device to idiot teenagers and college students trying to impress them with junk to waste their time with. I see it all the time in class. WinMo and other platforms are being used by people who are trying to get work done. This is part of the reason why it hasnt been updated but also why it hasnt grown by leaps and bounds in the past 5 years like the appstore has. Apple is sold out to please youth and starry-eyed fan-peeps and its usability credit is quickly tanking.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 10:17AM]

Lee

Find me an iPhone equivalent for TomTom (not the poor man's non-Turn-by-Turn Google maps you guys use)

Find me an iPhone equivalent for SoftMaker Office 2008 (Documents to Go is crap by comparison: http://www.softmaker.com/english/ofpcomp_en.htm )

Fine me an iPhone equivalent for SpaceTime or TI Emu for the 89 Titanium

Find me an iPhone equivalent for Live Search

Find me an iPhone equivalent for MS Voice Command

Find me an iPhone equivalent for a geo-tagging app such as HTC FootPrints

Fine me an iPhone equivalent for a note taking app such as PhatPad

Find me an iPhone equivalent for Sprint Live TV (and not some streaming from the PC crap, but a native one)

Find me an iPhone equivalent for a file explorer such as Resco Explorer

Find me an iPhone equivalent for VNC or Remote Desktop, which allows me to completely take over and control my PC or log onto other Domain Servers from my phone and control them without any restrictions.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 10:19AM]

Hell, for that matter, name me what the iPhone can do that the Touch HD can't.
Name me the apps that it has that are so must have, that the Touch HD (or Touch Pro, or Diamond, or Xperia, or Omnia) fail to carry or duplicate in terms of functionality.

I, on the other hand, can name you at least a dozen major shortcomings for the iPhone:

No bluetooth music streaming and/or file transfers (video is out of the question)
No drag and drop file juggling
No Flash support inside Safari (where the heck is Opera Mobile and/or SkyFire for this thing)
No Java
No copy and paste
No tethering
No front camera
No video recording
No video calls
No user replaceable battery
No radio
No VGA resolution
No IR port (it's something I take for granted, using my phone as a remote for well...anything just about)
No physical keyboard
No external storage card support (Micro SDHC cards are up to 32 GB now, 8GB is NOT enough these days, especially for a media device)
No voice command (WM devices and even some "el-cheapo" phones have featured this for years now)
No MMS (it doesn't have phone-to-phone MMS, it has phone-to-air-to-phone picture sharing necessitating a data plan)
No Live TV (that doesnt require you to be connected to an app like Orb on your home PC, which defeats the purpose, why would I want to watch it on a dinky non VGA screen instead of just on my home PC when im at home anyways)
No camera flash
No camera zoom
Same old, subpar, 2 MP camera for that matter
No multitasking
No turn-by-turn voice navigation system
Limited video format support
Limited picture format support
Limited file format support in general
Only 128 MB of RAM (Cant run many apps simultaneously -- I mean not that it matters since multitasking is for all intents and purposes out of the question! New WM phones are getting 256+ MB of RAM, with 150+ MB free on bootup)

[Kelmon @ Feb 16th 2009 10:35AM]

I just want to point out that the concept of an "App Store" is so freakin' obvious that I am amazed it has taken so long for one to appear at all. In this respect I don't consider Apple to have been the "leader" but rather the quickest laggard.

[CJ @ Feb 16th 2009 10:04AM]

Admittedly, this is great for all those winmo users who don't have the time to find all the apps they need, or to lurk around XDA or PPC Geeks to find said apps.

And yes, Apple made the App store popular, and certainly spurred those other companies to answer with their own versions. But also, think about what the App store means for iPhone users from day one: All the apps you download/buy are locked down by Apple, as if I need to mention it again.

Now, if the Jailbreaking community had an app store of their own, THEN it will be the greatest thing (ahem) ever.

[Ben @ Feb 16th 2009 10:19AM]

I was replying by adding content...is that not OK?

[Gilly @ Feb 16th 2009 10:32AM]

Has no one found this yet http://mobile.microsoft.com/myphone/en-us/default.mspx? I was able to download and install MyPhone

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 10:50AM]

Wow.
Nice find!

[Hamidxa @ Feb 16th 2009 10:57AM]

Just tested it.
It installs fine.
It connects to the service fine, but it fails at the registration part because we have to have been authenticated already via the My Phone website/service.

[ZSX @ Feb 16th 2009 11:21AM]

Excellent find! And it does install but cannot connect to the server yet.

[Gilly @ Feb 16th 2009 11:23AM]

Yeah, hopefully they will open the service up soon so we can test it.

[Kelmon @ Feb 16th 2009 10:37AM]

While I have no particular wish to keep on banging this particular drum, can you buy applications from the Windows Marketplace using real money rather than silly Microsoft Points? This whole thing brings a whole new meaning to the term "Monopoly Money"...

[MikeWard1701 @ Feb 16th 2009 10:55AM]

I was hoping MyPhone would be a consumer-level offering of Exchange, damn :(

[iKurt Mark III @ Feb 16th 2009 11:05AM]

MobileMe is much better and more seamless and elegant.

[Dorv @ Feb 16th 2009 11:21AM]

People like you give the rest of us Apple Fans bad names. Mobile Me SUCKED MAJOR ASS in the beginning, dude. I still have major delays in getting mail delivered that I never experienced with Active Sync (either on my iPhone at my last job, or the 95 Treo's I owned).

Seriously, dude... Stop defending just for the sake of starting shit.

[CJ @ Feb 16th 2009 11:48AM]

Yeah, let's hope that this is as un-mobileme as possible.

Because I want my connections to actually WORK

[Kelmon @ Feb 16th 2009 11:54AM]

Surely it is hard to review something that has not been released.

And, yes, I tend to agree with Dorv - MobileMe is not that good and certainly was a well documented disaster at launch, although it's certainly not as bad now. While I don't own an iPhone and therefore don't make use of that aspect of the service, the Web Mail component is far from perfect (it occasionally reloads the screen rather than deleting the email I had selected, for example) and we've only just now got the promised file sharing service almost 1-year after it should have been there. Certainly the service is not worth £58 per year...

Try and keep things in perspective...