Windows Phone Thoughts: Microsoft Revises Marketplace Policies

"We remain very pleased with the Windows Phone Marketplace ecosystem and are grateful for the time, patience and hard work that developers have committed to make it a success. We will continue to take feedback and take steps to make Windows Phone Marketplace and App Hub a more convenient, fun and rewarding experience for developers."

Microsoft has recently made some interesting changes to the Windows Phone Marketplace that will make it easier to publish apps. This is especially true internationally, where Microsoft has partnered with a Global Publisher, who will act as an intermediary between developers and the Microsoft certification process. In addition, the Marketplace Application Provider Agreement has been updated to include more licenses. Mostly though, Microsoft used this announcement as an opportunity to tout the great results for developers who use Trial Apps. "Nearly 1 out of 10 trial apps downloaded convert to a purchase and generate 10 times more revenue, on average, than paid apps that don't include trial functionality," said Todd Brix, Microsoft's senior director of mobile. Finally, Microsoft revealed some results from the Ad Control platform, which allows developers to create ad-supported free apps. At just under 10,000 apps (9823 as of this morning), the WP Marketplace is growing quickly and these changes can only help going forward.