Windows Phone web marketplace extends to 22 new countries

Although, Microsoft’s Windows Phone marketplace is far from the likes of the gigantic Apple app store and the Google Play store, in terms of both the number of apps and its reach, the latest news from the Windows Phone makers reveal that their marketplace is now available across 22 new countries. The web-based marketplace has now been made available for Windows phone users across Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam. Besides, Microsoft also has plans on some making some improvements to its marketplace. It has decided to clean-up spam and reduce the noise level.

Comes to 22 more countries

The Microsoft blog also reveals that a new clean-up initiative taken up by them will aim at putting an end to consumer complaints regarding app searches - when a user tries searching for an app by typing in a keyword or name, the expected app does not show up, thereby causing some inconvenience. The team has started reviewing the keywords that developers assign to their apps and are also removing the ones that aren’t relevant. The blog also states that one will require Windows Phone 7.5 to buy, download, or update apps from Marketplace. The new requirement is said to be a part of the larger Marketplace improvement effort.

Apple's iOS App Store makes the most money, but those who felt that Google follows in next will be surprised. The most recent report by mobile analytics firm, Flurry disclosed that Amazon App Store generates more daily revenue than Google Play. In fact, Google recently rechristened its Android Market to Google Play, making it clear that the search giant offers a broad catalogue of content, in addition to the apps programmed for smartphones and tablets based on its Android operating system. Apple's popular App Store has been playing around with millions of downloads, while its Mac App store, launched last year in January, also managed to gather 1000 apps.