Microsoft gets big names for app store
Microsoft has announced that major players such as Electronic Arts and Facebook will be selling applications for Windows Mobile through the firm’s answer to the iPhone App Store. It’s also announced refund and purchasing policies which are more flexible than its rivals.
The Facebook application will allow customers to upload video clips directly from a cameraphone for the first time. There will also be a MySpace application which will be available both through the store and preloaded on LG phones. The two social networking sites haven’t confirmed whether they’ll be charging for their apps, though it would seem to make sense to make them free of charge and boost usage of the sites – and thus ad revenues.
Though there is a relatively limited number of firms already confirmed as providing products for Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Microsoft believes most of the 20,000 firms which already produce apps for the system will use it. Products sold through the store, due later this year, will run on the forthcoming 6.5 edition of the Windows Mobile operating system.
Microsoft is following Google’s lead in offering a full refund policy for any paid app within 24 hours of purchase. Both firms differ from Apple which has a refund policy but makes the application developer pay the full cost, leaving it out of pocket and Apple keeping its 30 percent cut. (If Microsoft extends the store to Europe, it may find it is forced to extend the refund period to at least seven days in lines with laws governing online sales.)
The Microsoft store will also give customers the option of paying online with a credit card of having the cost added to their cellphone bill. That’s in contrast to Google and Apple which insist on customers using Google Checkout and the iTunes store respectively for payments.
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