So, yesterday I finally registered on the Windows Mobile Marketplace. I wrote down some thoughts about the Marketplace a couple of months back, 
(http://mobilitydojo.net/2009/05/08/marketplace-sign-me-up-scotty/), but I didn’t really get that much further until now. Why so slow you say?

Well, it turned out things weren’t smoothed out back then. Microsoft opened up registration in May. Provided you lived in an English speaking country… And were able to pay the fee with a US credit card… While I realize that there are probably a number of companies and individuals who are able to meet those requirements I did not fall into that category. (It was also unclear as to whether you could register as an individual or needed to register a company.)

The Marketplace was opened for application submissions the day before yesterday, and at the same time a total of 29 countries were eligible for registration. I hit the “Register Now” button, and managed to get through with a couple of more snafus along the way.
- I got an error when the page tried to bill my credit card. Some forum searching pointed me in the direction of http://billing.microsoft.com where I had to correct my personal details before the transaction went trough. (The fee is 99$, or the equivalent in your local currency.)
- It’s not possible yet in my country to enter any bank account info so I will not be able to get paid yet. It’s not possible to actually sell anything yet either though so it’s not a problem right now.
- I probably have to fill out some paperwork regarding taxes and send over to Microsoft. Seems the IRS wants control over the cash flow even though you don’t live in the US. Probably not going to bother doing this until the payment parameters are live.
- Everything in the Marketplace needs to be signed with a certificate. This is handled by GeoTrust (who also handles the regular Mobile2Market signing). I had to approve that application for a certificate by following a link, and a couple of hours later I got an email with more paperwork. I need to fill out some personal details, provide a photocopy of a government issued ID card, and have it notarized. (Or the equivalent as pretty much no one offers notary services in this country.) Most likely a couple of extra dollars to get this done, and while it’s not much, (MSDN forums say 10$ is the going rate in the US), it would have been polite of Microsoft to inform us of this extra cost up front.

I’ll get to it with sending a fax/mail to GeoTrust, and hope they aren’t too slow processing orders. But it seems it’s not a matter of registering, and start submitting apps, all in one day.

The next step would be to upload applications, wait for it to be OKed by Microsoft (could take 1-2 weeks pr app), and then wait for the Marketplace to open.

I’m in no hurry, but why are you making this so complicated dear Microsoft? The “AppStore” seems to be the important feature in the mobility space this year as far as the consumer market goes. Apple’s offering has been a huge success (from the numbers they are telling us), Android seem to be going OK given the relatively minor numbers of devices in the wild. BlackBerry is working at their alternative. Nokia launched their Ovi service – though it apparently has not been a success so far. So, we can all understand why Microsoft is providing one too. But they better make sure theirs is better than the competition, and as of now I believe they should iron out some more issues before it’s ready for prime-time. While initially it gave the impression of being a Windows Mobile 6.5 only feature the MarketPlace will also be available for 6.0 and 6.1 later this year so once it gets up and running you will be able to reach a pretty large market with your apps

Microsoft has received a lot of flak in the forums for the business model on their end compared to the alternatives. The sign-up fee is 99$ as I already said. Which also happens to be the annual subscription cost, so it will cost me 99$ next year as well. And it’s not known if Microsoft will count this year from the day the Marketplace is launched, or if it starts the day you sign up. The fee only covers 5 applications though, and extra apps = another 99$… It’s not large sums of money, provided you can recoup your costs through sales, but since I’m paying out of my own pocket it’s not like I’d say no to a model where I can submit as many apps as I like. I can only guess as to what Microsoft’s intentions are. I think they’re something like “Hey, fart apps developers! Stay away, you’ve got your iPhones to infest! We don’t want you here!” Probably looking to make a more serious impression. Microsoft has stated they want quality before quantity. I understand that goal, but I’m still not sure if it will work as intended. It seems like Microsoft are watching things closely though, and they might adjust the model as we progress.

There are a few other distinguishing features in the Marketplace I think it’s important to understand when comparing with Apple and Google though (ruling BlackBerry and Nokia out of for the moment being); On Windows Mobile the Marketplace is only one way to install applications. With the two others you don’t really have any other way to install stuff on the device. Also you have a totally different access to the device on Windows Mobile so I can understand why they would want the verification signing up (not saying it’s perfect). On an Android you don’t get root access. On the iPhone not being Steve Jobs will only get you so far as features go. I’d definitely not like a virus/trojan like app being distributed if I was Microsoft.

Microsoft also just launched a competition for the Marketplace to get developers interested. Probably isn’t going to be easy to win, but they are giving away 4 Surface tables – man I’d like to have me one of those. Obviously I will not receive one even if I win, because Surface isn’t distributed in my country. I’ll have to settle with the cash equivalent. Ok, it’s a rather nice 20k $, but money don’t look equally good in my living room
More details can be found at: http://mobilethisdeveloper.com

As to what I’ll be providing, and how much it will cost… I honestly do not know. I could provide free apps like on this site. Or I could charge a minor amount. Or I could create a “proper” app, and charge a “proper” amount of money. More importantly I’ll probably have to figure out what would make sense for me to produce and offer in this market segment I’ve been working on some ideas, and I’ll obviously keep this blog updated with my progress. Probably not going to quit my day job any time soon though