Microsoft is leaving no stone unturned, when it comes to developing and promoting their Windows Phone Marketplace. As per a post on the Windows Team Blog, yesterday, the software giant had launched 13 new storefronts around the world for Windows Phone apps and games.
The new Marketplace focuses majorly on Eastern, South-Eastern and Baltic region in Europe. They are Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Apart from these Costa Rica and Venezuela are among the new marketplaces. Due to technical reasons, it might take a few more days before Marketplace is visible on everyone’s phones in the new countries.
If totaled these marketplace storefronts with the ones launched earlier this year in Argentina, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, and the Philippines, along with the existing ones, total number of Marketplace storefronts around the globe, tallies to 54.
As said earlier, Microsoft is on a roll. Earlier this year, at the Mobile World Congress, the makers of Windows, had announced that, they intend on opening stores in UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam in 2012. However, nothing was specified, as to when they will launch.
Out of all the markets mentioned above, China seems to booming rapidly. Within a short span of three months, the China Marketplace has added over 20,000 apps and around 15,000 registered software developers. Not only this, the Windows Phone based Nokia Lumia 800c is all set to hit the Chinese market in association with the third largest mobile operator in the country – China Telecom.
A recent study had suggested that China is leading the world in terms of iOS and Android activations. What would be interesting to observe is, whether China as a market, be able to catapult Windows Phone in the league of iOS and Android? Tell us what you think.
