Windows Marketplace for Mobile preview

Thanks to Long Zheng you can view a promo of the coming Windows Marketplace for Mobile experience. It looks pretty good actually, although the guy doing the voice over did sound a tad cheesy. (The screenshot on the right is taken from the video on Long’s site.)

The selection process, rating system, easy download and general look’n’feel are all good… just like they should be when you’re playing catchup to another vendor who shipped months ago. Oh well, at least they are trying.

And speaking of trying, it sound like they are listening to feedback. They’re now allowing free upgrades for the lifecycle of the application. They’re also offering a money-back guarantee on any apps you download. A nice touch in my opinion.

Back on March 14 over on my personal blog I lamented the ‘charge the developer’ mentality that seemed to be pervading this initiative, and I agree with Long’s thoughts along those lines also. So I’m happy to see improvements from the Mobile team.

Here’s the comments from the PressPass announcement:

In addition, people will be able to return an application after purchase within 24 hours for a full refund. Microsoft also announced today that developers will now be able to deliver updates to their applications for free* throughout the application lifecycle.

Another interesting note form the press piece is how many companies have signed on to be a part of the program, including Facebook, EA Mobile, Netflix and MySpace (who we covered separately earlier today).

Windows Live for Mobile

And on April 2 the Windows Live for Mobile suite will be available for free download. Here’s the details:

Microsoft also announced that Windows Live for Mobile will be available for free download this week for customers in 25 languages. Windows Live for Mobile is the company’s mobile suite of Internet services designed specifically to take advantage of the Windows Mobile platform. It includes mobile versions of Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft Live Search and enhanced photo upload capabilities. Customers who have Windows Mobile 6.x phones can visit http://wl.windowsmobile.com on April 2 to download the suite.

Things are certainly starting to get exciting (for a change) in the Windows Mobile space. Please, let it continue.