Windows Marketplace Opens Doors to Ancient Phones Support for Windows Mobile 6 6.1 Now Available

If you re one of those people not ditching their Windows Mobile 6 or 6.1
smartphones unless Microsoft launches Windows 7 then you re about to get
excited again about your old handset. Microsoft has officially announced
that the Marketplace has now support for Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 devices.
Just earlier last week Microsoft announced a PC version of Marketplace
and now they re ready to move forward. The mobile store will be
accessible to older Windows Mobile phones. Windows Mobile 6.5 is far
from perfect and not all Windows Mobile lovers will try it. And with
�30 million devices worldwide �, Microsoft should definitely open the
Marketplace s doors to everyone.
Those of you that have a Windows Mobile 6 or 6.1 phone can simply point
their browser to http://mp.windowsphone.com and download everything
needed in order to make the app store work. Additionally you could run
everything on your PC while customizing the Marketplace for your Windows
Mobile 6 or 6.1 handset.
According to Microsoft s blog, there are over 800 apps available in the
Marketplace and there are over 1,000 more software developers registered
with the store. Those numbers are incomparable to Apple s App Store but
the Marketplace is definitely growing. And with so many Windows Mobile
users out there, making the store available to older OS versions seems
like the smart thing to do. The only problem that I foresee is that
developers will rather create new apps for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones and
other platforms instead of focusing on previous versions. On the other
hand all the existing Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 apps could be ported to
the Marketplace, but is there any real value in pursuing such endeavors?
The official blog post ends with a very positive message. The
Marketplace will grow and it will offer us even more hot features. What
it doesn t say is that Windows Mobile is losing ground to Android right
now, but then again, I might be exaggerating everything just a little bit.
What can you tell us about your Windows Mobile 6 and/or 6.1 Marketplace
experience? Will you replace your current smartphone with a Windows
Mobile 6.5 handset?