Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Developers on all platforms often complain about the confusing and often frustrating app submission processes. Often, apps will be denied from publishing for no apparent reason. Growing the number of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace is a priority for Microsoft, so constantly updating and streamlining this process is definitely in their best interest. The most recent version of the certification requirements looks to further improve the submission process, by clarifying the content policies and technical requirements for approval. There are also additional testing steps that will help developers conduct in-house application testing to help improve pass rates. Hit the link for more information about the changes, and keep working on those apps!

"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.

Todd Brix over at the Windows Phone Developer Blog has posted some information about the most recent updates to the app certification requirements. Of note are requirements that the app size be less than 225MB (down from 400MB), and information about apps that can run under the lock screen. The latter requirement is relevant for apps such as Pandora that you would run while the screen was off. Applications currently in the marketplace will be subject to the changes the next they are submitted for an update. Hit the link for more information and a link to the certification requirements document.