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Apr. 1, 2009

Microsoft is touting a few big-name mobile developers that will join it in its efforts, even before its Mobile Marketplace even opens.

Some top mobile developers already signed on to be among the first to offer cell phone and wireless applications through Windows Marketplace for Mobile include EA Mobile, MySpace, AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, Namco Networks, Facebook, Handmark and a few more.

Aaron Woodman, a director in Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business said “I am very excited about the ability to work with these people.”

Another aspect of the marketplace that Microsoft is revealing this week at the CTIA conference is the opportunity for wireless operators to get involved and create a branded experience within its new app store. Woodman describes it as a “store within a store” opportunity, where flexible billing is part of the mix.

Mobile users can buy useful applications via credit card, or they can get billed on their mobile carrier’s phone bill. That way, wireless carriers have a way to maintain their billing relationship.

Microsoft has been working with a TV personality and one of the designers who created home and other products for Target such as color palettes and wallpaper for Windows phones.

Fashion designers sometimes consider mobile phones as accessories as replacements to their own product designs, a bit like watches, Woodman notes.

Through new partnerships with the Design Museum of London and The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Microsoft will offer a variety of designer themes to help people express their own personal style on Windows phones.

Today, about 20,000 mobile applications work on Windows Mobile, so it already has a healthy ecosystem, Woodman says.

Microsoft's new Mobile Marketplace will launch sometime in late July when the new version of the Windows phone operating system is released.

In his keynote address at CTIA Wireless 2009 last week, Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft said the software giant will introduce an alliance with two prominent design houses and showcase the work of fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.

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Source: Microsoft.