Microsoft Bans VoIP From Windows Mobile Marketplace

Apps that enable VoIP services to run on a carrier's network are forbidden, as are apps that sell, link to or promote mobile voice plans. Microsoft also says it won't permit apps larger than 10 MB to be sold through Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Microsoft is protecting Windows Mobile users' privacy by banning apps in which user data such as contacts, photos, text messages, browsing history and location information are transmitted to another person without their prior consent.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile will be available on devices running the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system when it starts arriving on devices later this year. Microsoft is expected to release Windows Mobile 6.5 to manufacturing next week at its TechEd conference in Los Angeles.

Developers will be able to set their own prices for Windows Marketplace for Mobile apps, or offer them free of charge. Microsoft will charge developers an annual fee of $99, which entitles them to submit up to five apps.

However, Microsoft will charge $99 for each additional submission within the year, a move presumably aimed at keeping Windows Marketplace for Mobile free of the type of dreck that has recently shown up in Apple's App Store.

Despite the difficulties Apple has had in policing the App Store, there's no denying its promise. The App Store recently surpassed the one billion download mark, and while most of those were likely free apps, Apple probably never envisioned just how popular the App Store would become less than a year after launch.

Microsoft needs Windows Marketplace for Mobile to be successful in order to help the company bridge the fast-growing gap between itself and smartphone industry leaders that has resulted from repeated Windows Mobile development delays.