Lately there have been a lot of changes with regards to the
Windows Phone Marketplace.
The most important change is that users can no longer install
apps or games from the Zune PC software. You will need to use the
Marketplace on the Web or phone.
The web Marketplace is now available in the following countries:
Bahrain, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Iraq,
Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Qatar, Romania, Saudi
Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine,
Venezuela and Vietnam.
Also, starting from this month you'll need Windows Phone 7.5 to
download apps from the Marketplace. Pre-Mango users will be able to
browse the Marketplace but won't be able to download any new apps
or update existing ones.
Microsoft is striving hard to make the Marketplace better. In an
initiative to keep the Marketplace clean, Microsoft has
chalked out a four-point plan. Here's a short summary:
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Microsoft will investigate and pull apps which misuse
trademarks.
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Action will be taken against bulk publishers and developers who
publish the same app to multiple Marketplace categories.
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A five-keywords-only rule will be enforced and irrelevant
keywords will be deleted. This will result in refined and relevant
search results.
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Apps that are racy or sexual in nature will be evaluated.
If things work out as planned, then we can hope to see a better
Marketplace experience in the near future.