Microsoft [MSFT] has made a few changes to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace policies that actually give a better deal to developers. It isn’t clear why Microsoft has done this other than probably tempting more developers to develop with less restricted guidelines.
Before these changes were made there was a restriction on how many apps could be submitted per year under the developers licence. That limit was set at 5 application per year for the $99 payment to be in the developers system. This has now changed to allow for unlimited paid apps to be submitted with a restriction of 5 free apps per year. Once the 5 free apps limit has been reached you can pay $19.99 per free application till the end of the year when it renews with another 5 free submissions.
Other changes to the policy includes…
* Annual registration fee of $99
* No limit to the number of paid apps submitted 5 free apps per registration, $19.99 each after that
* Free registration to DreamSpark students (same unlimited paid and 5 free apps applies)
* A new optional push notification service to help developers stay engaged with customers
* A new optional Trial API – trials mean more customers try your app, and less likelihood that they return it. The length or type of trial is fully controlled by the developer
* The ability to publish to all available Marketplace markets through a new ‘worldwide distribution option, allowing developers to pay once and distribute broadly
* Wider range of business models; free, paid, freemium and ad-funded
* Equally important to many developers is what isn’t changing:
* A revenue share of 70/30
* Developers manage their business with Marketplace via the self service portal http://developer.windowsphone.com
* Payout takes place monthly for developers that have earned more than USD$200 worldwide
* Developers can make ad funded applications
* All applications go through a process of technical and content certification
* Marketplace offers support for credit card commerce, and where available mobile operator billing.
* Microsoft continues its practice of publishing policies, guidelines, and submission process details to developers so they understand exactly how marketplace works.
Lets hope that Microsoft is able to drum up some developer support so that the launch goes well for them later this year. They have a lot of catching up to do. The full post with details can be found over on the Windows Blog.
Via: Engadget
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