Microsoft has confirmed the upcoming early May closure of its Windows Mobile Marketplace.
Beginning May 9, the software giant is putting all of its eggs in one basket via the newer and richer Windows Phone Marketplace, a storefront tailored to devices powered by the current Windows Phone mobile operating system.
“Applications and games acquired from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service installed on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone will continue to work after the service is discontinued on May 9, 2012,” an email to customers explains. “However, additional downloads of these applications and games from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace will no longer be available.”
For the time being, Microsoft is strongly urging users to grab any and all updates available to their apps before the option to do so is no longer available.
With Microsoft painfully struggling to keep up with Android and iOS, the latest shift in focus to the company’s newst digital storefront is probably, in the big picture, a wise move to help the Windows Phone platform better compete over the long haul.
