Windows Marketplace For Mobile Deep DiveWindows Marketplace For Mobile Deep Dive

As indicated previously, Microsoft has released a client for Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 users giving them access to app store that WinMo 6.5 users have had access to for just over a month. Deciding on whether or not to install this is a no brainer - do it. You won't regret it.The easiest way to get the client on your machine is to visit this page and put in your phone number if you are in the United States. If not, visit mp.windowsphone.com from your phone. If in the US, you will get an SMS message with a download link. A few taps later and the client will be installed and running.

One running, you'll be on the main screen that has a search box, four featured apps and a number of groupings called Showcase, Most popular, What's new, Categories, and My Applications. Let's hit last things first. Apps installed through the store will be listed in the "My Applications" section. From there it will tell you what apps you have that have updates available and what has been downloaded but not yet installed. You can also remove an app from here. To keep things simple, this is the only place marketplace apps are listed for uninstallation. The app I tested did not show up in the "Remove Programs" control panel icon. This may be a sign of things to come. "Remove Programs" would only be for apps installed outside of the store, like drivers. In a few years, there may be little or no need for the old "Remove Programs" icon.

Finally, the last thing you can do in My Applications is rate an app you've downloaded and installed. You can just select 1-5 stars or you can also give a mini-review as to why you like or dislike a particular app. These rankings are then averaged and shown as the overall rating of an app when you are shopping.

Now, back to the main screen. The Showcase section right now lists ten apps. Most are Microsoft apps right now, like Mobile Manager for Netflix, the Facebook app, Bing search and Microsoft My Phone. From this listing you can see the price and the average ranking. Click on an app and you will get a description of the app and usually a listing of key features. You can also see the mini-reviews given by others that have downloaded it, detail information like the download size and release date and a selection of screenshots of the author has provided them. If you like what you see, just touch the Install button.

The Most Popular section is a long list of apps ranked by the number of downloads. It gives the same info as the Showcase does and works the same way when you tap on an app.

What's New is obviously the most recently uploaded apps. I don't know if an author can get his software up on this list repeatedly by releasing updates or it only shows an app the first time it is added to the store.

The last section is Categories. Right now, there are 14 categories, including Books, Communication, Reference, Entertainment, Games, Music & Video and News & Weather. Next to each is the number of apps in that section. Those may be further subdivided. For example, if you tap on games, you'll get subcategories of Action, Board, etc. Just adding the number of apps here the store has 346 apps for my device. My device is a WinMo Pro device, meaning it has a touch screen. When I look at the same screen on my wife's WinMo Standard (non-touch screen) device, there are only 84 apps. This means that the app knows what device you have and will only show you what will work on it. My understanding is not all apps are available in all countries due to licensing reasons, so you might have access to an app that a friend in Germany might not be able to see.

There are a ton of free apps available, but some cost money. I saw prices ranging from $.99 to $49.99. There may be apps even more expensive than that. I decided to get a chess game. The fastest way to do that was to go back to the main screen and type "chess" in the search box. The app quickly pulled a list of apps, ordered by rank - five star apps at the top and unranked apps at the bottom

To buy an app, you'll have to have a Windows Live ID. You should log on to your account from your PC and make sure the billing information is correct. It took the app on my device a few seconds to confirm the payment method and another few seconds to validate my payment and start the download. Pretty painless. Note that while the download is happening, you can continue shopping in the store while the download bar at the bottom of the screen shows the status of the download. The chess app I downloaded was seamlessly installed and stored in the Games folder of my Programs menu, as expected. It was nice not to have to fool with registration information too.

Overall, it seems to be a pretty well implemented store and works great on the older 6.0 and 6.1 devices. I suspect third party apps installed on WinMo devices will skyrocket now that they can be accessed from one place. I know this is going to put the hurt on many websites that sell apps, but this will be far easier for users, and that is good for the platform.