Hands-On With Windows Marketplace for Mobile

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10372358-10356022.html' target='_blank'>http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_...8-10356022.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Microsoft launched its new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system this week at the CTIA Wireless conference (see all stories) in San Diego. The OS includes a refreshed Internet Explorer Mobile, the new My Phone media sync and share service, and a brand new app store called, unceremoniously, Windows Marketplace for Mobile."</em></p><p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="600" height="360" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="FlashVars" value="playerType=embedded&amp;type=id&amp;value=50078023" /><param name="src" value="http://www.cnet.com/av/video/flv/universalPlayer/universalSmall.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="playerType=embedded&amp;type=id&amp;value=50078023" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="360" src="http://www.cnet.com/av/video/flv/universalPlayer/universalSmall.swf" flashvars="playerType=embedded&amp;type=id&amp;value=50078023" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object></p><p>C|NET has a quick video about the Windows Marketplace for Mobile - it's hard to say without having used it myself yet, but it looks a bit clumsy compared to the App store experience I've become used to on my iPod Touch. Anyone else have opinions on what using the new Windows Mobile Marketplace is like?</p>

[Paragon]

Actually I find MarkePlace fairly easy to use.

The problem is that at the moment, for me here in Canada, I have a wopping 41 applications to choose from. Wow!

Yes, I know this will improve over time, but because of all their language and other restrictions I don't think we are going to see wide scale adoption, especially when we have had so many other options available to us over the years that we have become familiar with, and most of them are using or developing OTA functionality.

Personally, they are going to have to go a long way with Market Place before I will use it on a regular basis.

dave

[thetruth]

can anyone tell what network it's connected to?

[Rob Alexander]

I received my Imagio a couple of days ago and played around with the Marketplace a bit. I can't say that I'm particularly impressed for me, but I've never considered going to a developer's web site and downloading an installation file to be intimidating. What it does do is it makes finding and installing apps really easy and that has to be a good thing for the platform. What Apple has shown with music and iPhone applications is that people really want a way to buy things very easily. This does that. It's not perfect, and I'll keep buying direct from developers for reasons I've stated in other threads, but I think it'll go over just fine with everyday users. It will remove a big barrier for many people to choosing Windows Phone over the iPhone.