Web-based Windows Phone Marketplace opens

Microsoft completely overhauls its previous joke of an online storefront to offer a robust, Web-based home for apps that can download over-the-air to your Windows Phone.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Editorial Director, Content Operations

Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Thought Leadership, Speed Desk and How-To. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica led CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).

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Jessica Dolcourt

Sept. 27, 2011 8:08 a.m. PT

The new Windows Phone Marketplace is sharper and well-populated. Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

In advance of its anticipated "Mango" software update, Microsoft is throwing open the doors to its newly renovated online Windows Phone Marketplace.

Related stories
• A look at Windows Phone 7 Marketplace for Mango
• Microsoft to app developers: Submit Mango apps to Marketplace now
• Windows Phone Marketplace hits 30,000 apps

The initial Marketplace was little more than a placeholder for things to come, a mostly static repository for maybe a thousand apps total. (Microsoft is now up to 30,000 titles compatible with Windows Phone.) In contrast, the new online Marketplace storefront is a sharper-looking app catalog complete with purchasing power and over-the-air downloads.

As with Google's and RIM's Web-based application storefronts, you'll be able to narrow your search by apps and games, and you'll see the usual spotlight for featured apps. Ever interested in pleasing socialites, the made-over Marketplace will also let you share app favorites through Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail.

The new and improved Windows Phone Marketplace will also track your history, and help you reinstall apps if you tend to hopscotch handsets.

The online Marketplace opens in 35 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.

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